BISP Competitors

The first health institution built in Pakistan was a 42-bed maternity hospital - formerly known as the Janbai Maternity Home - which opened in Karachi in 1924. Today, while maintaining that early focus on maternal and child health, Aga Khan Health Services also offers services that range from primary health care to diagnostic services and curative care. It reaches over 1.1 million people in rural and urban Sindh, Punjab as well as the North West Frontier, Northern Areas and Chitral. As the largest not-for-profit private health care system in Pakistan, its goal is to supplement the Government's efforts in health care provision, especially in the areas of maternal and child health and primary health care. AKHS,P now operates 47 health centres in Karachi, 27 in Sindh, 14 in Punjab and North West Frontier provinces, 33 in the Northern Areas and 31 in Chitral. In the North of Pakistan, AKHS has been implementing the Northern Pakistan Primary Health Care Programme since 1987. Working in partnership with local communities, the government, and other AKDN institutions, like the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, the goal has been to find sustainable ways of financing and delivering primary health care in the high-mountain valleys. This has led to a village-based approach -- the designation of community health workers by the local village organisation, the training of these workers in community-based disease prevention, and the reorientation of health professionals (government and private) to primary health care. Since it began, AKHS,P has trained over 1000 Community Health Workers and 1000 Traditional Birth Attendants in the Northern Areas and Chitral.

The Government of Pakistan launched the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) – the National Cash Transfer Programme (NCTP) – in July 2008, as the premier safety net institution in Pakistan. BISP originally came into being in the face of rapid food price inflation, which saw food, grain and fuel prices reaching a 30-year highest in 2008 and the global economic downturn in 2009 which further decreased the welfare of already vulnerable households. The Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), a targeted unconditional cash transfer program in Pakistan was implemented by focusing on poor women with an immediate objective of consumption smoothing and cushioning the negative effects of slow economic growth. According to World Bank (2015) social safety net programs help reduce the poverty gap by 15% around the world. In this backdrop, the programme was designed with the core objective of consumption smoothening for the poor families and providing them cushion against negative economic shocks which include global financial crisis, and rising food prices. Its long term objectives include meeting the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eradicate extreme and chronic poverty and empowerment of women. The Programme established through an Act of Parliament, BISP works under the executive patronage of Prime Minister while the President of Pakistan being its Chief Patron. Goals and objective of Programme are as follows : Enhance financial capacity of poor people and their dependent family members. Formulate and implement comprehensive policies and targeted programmes for the uplift of underprivileged and vulnerable people. Reduce poverty and promote equitable distribution of wealth especially for the low income groups. BISP has a nationwide presence with headquarters in Federal Capital Islamabad and 6 regional offices at provincial capitals, AJK and GB. There are 33 divisional offices and 385 Tehsil offices all across the country.