MAJOR RESEARCH PROJECTS

HEALTH SYSTEMS RESEARCH (HSR)

Health research in Pakistan has remained a neglected area. It has been mentioned in the National Health Policy, Government of Pakistan that PMRC will provide leadership and guidance for health systems research and it will be made an effective focal point for research in all relevant segments of the health sector throughout the country, as well as for transfer of technology.

Another initiative of the Council is the introduction and promotion of the as yet not widely understood and applied concept of Health Systems Research (HSR).

The concept of health systems research was introduced in the late seventies to support the effective implementation of Primary Health Care. Health Systems Research is a decision-facilitating tool for health managers and policy makers/planners. The Council introduced the concept in Pakistan and undertook the first workshop on the subject in collaboration with WHO in 1979. As a result of the workshop the Planning Commission transferred its Data Generation Cell for Health Planning to the Council and the Council started its Health systems Research Project in the country. Under this project beside the Islamabad data Generation Cell that was re-designated Health systems Research Centre, three PMRC HSR Centres were established at Khyber Medical College, Peshawar; Sindh Medical College, Karachi; and National Health Research Complex, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore. A model for Primary Health Care has been developed at a village ‘Budhni, 17 Km from Peshawar. Further workshops on HSR were undertaken in 1986 and 1989.

NATIONAL HEALTH SURVEY OF PAKISTAN (NHSP) 1990-1994:

The major internationally recognized effort of the Council is the National Health Survey of Pakistan (NHSP). The significance of the NHSP is due to the fact that Pakistan was the first developing country to complete this health examination survey. Health Examination Surveys involve detailed macro and micro planning, large-scale logistic arrangements, and careful monitoring. Such surveys are also very expensive hence PMRC was the seventh country (at the time) in the world (six of these developed) to have completed the exercise. PMRC was also able to get funding for the survey from the National Centre for Health Statistics, US Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS). The Survey provides information on the health profile of the people of Pakistan and the utilization of health services in the Country. The survey data collection was started in 1990 and completed in 1994. The information collected was disseminated through scientific meetings in Karachi and Islamabad and a national conference at Islamabad in September 1997. A report was published in 1998.

Seminar on Health Research Priorities for Pakistan was held in February 2001 in which leading researchers, scientists, academicians, policy makers and planners participated. COHRED provided an international consultant for the seminar. Eight Health Research Priorities areas were identified. Based on the recommendations strategic and operational plans for health research have been developed. Full report is available.

Ministry of Science and Technology constituted a committee to evaluate the performance of Health Sector R&D organizations of the country. PMRC organized and coordinated the activity; the Executive Director participated as a member of the evaluation team and was the chief rapporteur for the evaluation. Evaluation of forty-two health R& D Institutions was carried out from April - July 2001. Available resources of the institutions and their needs and Research and Development outputs were documented and recommendations forwarded to MoST for action. The recommendations of the evaluation are under consideration with the Ministry of Science and Technology.

PMRC in collaboration with the Aga Khan University organized a workshop for developing Guidelines for Ethical Review of Research Proposals in July 2001. This was the first step in its plan for establishing an oversight mechanism for the ethical conduct of health research nationally and within institutions. The draft of the guidelines, which has emerged from the workshop is planned to be reviewed by the proposed National Bioethics Committee, nominations for which have been finalized and submitted to the ministry of Health for approval and notification.

Pakistan Medical Research Council invited a delegation from the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM), People’s Republic of China in June 1998 under the Ministry of Science and Technology 14th Protocol. A draft agreement for collaboration between PMRC and SATCM was drawn and sent for approval of MoH. A copy of the report of the SATCM delegation’s visit was taken by the Minister Health during his visit to China in April 2000. The matter was pursued through Mr. Hassan, Councilor, Technical Affairs, Embassy of Pakistan and the draft agreement was re-submitted to the Ministry of Science and Technology for Inclusion in the 16th Scientific and Technological Protocol with China in April 2002. Feed back has not been received.

Meanwhile PMRC has developed and submitted for funding a PC-1 for the development of its Centre at Khyber Medical College, Peshawar in to a Specialized Centre for Research in the Field of Traditional Medicine.

Development of a Strategic and Operational Plan for Health Research in Pakistan:

Based on the recommendations of the Seminar on Health Research Priorities for Pakistan and with the help of a Consultant hired by MoST, the Council prepared a document titled "Developing and strengthening the Health Research System in Pakistan: Guidelines for Action and Operational Plan 2001-2006”. This Action Plan will not only guide individuals and institutions in undertaking the research according to country needs but will also help in identifying resources and capacity development needs of health research in Pakistan.

The Council approached the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) for collaboration in the development of a programme for capacity building for health research. A meeting was held on April 4, 2002 at the CPSP, and it was agreed that the two institutions will collaborate in developing and implementing the proposed programme. Focal persons were nominated to organize follow up action on the decision of the meeting.

A follow-up meeting was held on May 8, 2002 at the PMRC Head Office, Islamabad to discuss and develop consensus on terms of reference of the collaboration; and to develop an action plan. The subsequent progress on the collaboration has been slow owing to certain unexpected commitments of the institutions but the proposal remains on the agenda.

A PC-1 for the capacity building of PMRC staff was submitted to the Ministry of Science and Technology for funding in December, 2001. Under this project a training programme of two years duration is proposed for PMRC regular staff within the country. The trainings include master’s level and short courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, and research management and computers.

After a fire in the MoST secretariat, PMRC was asked to resubmit the proposal. This was done in February 2002. Later as per directions of the Ministry of Science of Technology the PC-1 was revised and submitted through the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Science & Technology in January, 2003. Response is awaited.

The Council is endeavoring to strengthen and expand its linkages within country through the reconstitutions of its statutory boards, committees and panels. It has also constituted a panel of special advisors with the approval of the Board of Governors to harness the available health research expertise in the country and of expatriate Pakistanis.

The Council has in recent years established links with international health research organizations like the Commission on Health Research for Development (COHRED), the Global Forum for Health Research, the Alliance on Health research for Policy and WHO. Successful collaboration in research has been undertaken with the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS) and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

At the International level the Executive Director is a member of the WHO/EMRO Advisory Committee on Health Research, and is the focal point for the Council on Health Research for Development, the Global Forum for Health Research and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research.

The Council completed joint studies with Johns Hopkins University and the Concerted Action Project coordinated by the Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Heidelberg University in the year 2001. A joint proposal with Johns Hopkins University was submitted for funding to AHPSR.

Pakistan has yet to control infectious diseases adequately. The first requirement for control of these diseases (and others) is to have accurate and timely information about disease dynamics. A good Infectious Disease Surveillance System in the country has long been needed. Existing resources and institution can be strengthened to undertake this task of national importance.

Pakistan Medical Research Council had long been considering the development of a proposal for the establishment of such a system but owing to lack of expertise was unable to do so. The opportunity provided by the MoST for hiring of consultants was availed to develop a concept paper during the year 2001. A PC-1 has since been developed and submitted for funding.

The PMRC submitted proposals to both the Ministry of Health (on 24-01-2002) and that of Science and Technology (09-07-2001) for grants to establish an Endowment Fund for health research. The Ministry of Health has been requested to allocate some funds from the Central Drug Research fund, which has been created with the 1% levy for research on the profits of the Pharmaceutical Industry.

The Ministry of Science and Technology dropped the proposal on May 29 2002 due to paucity of funds. Final reply from Ministry of Health is awaited.

National Health Survey of Pakistan Follow-up Project was funded through the MoH’s Health System Research Project. This was planned for developing a mechanism for monitoring the health status of the people of Pakistan through a follow-up of the sample of the population studied for the National Health Survey of Pakistan (NHSP), on a regular basis. The Council completed the fieldwork in 2000. Data editing and cleaning was carried out in 2001.

A PC-1 for Data analysis, report writing and data dissemination of the Survey findings, for a total amount of Rs.1.74 million was approved in the DDWP meeting held on 3-1-2002.

The Council completed a Pakistan Health Education Survey PHES (KAP) with the collaboration of Ministry of Health and Provincial Health Departments to provide information for policy, planning and effective implementation of the Health Education Program of the country. The data was compiled and analyzed in 2001 and a report was written.

Survey on the Health and Living Condition of Elderly Population of Pakistan, funded by WHO, was completed in two phases. Six PMRC Research Centers participated in the Survey. In the first phase 1304 households and in the second phase another 1595 households were included. The data of the two phases were merged and analyzed. The preliminary report of the first phase was submitted to WHO, Islamabad in 2001.

SEMINAR ON HEALTH RESEARCH SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTH RESEARCH MAPPING IN PAKISTAN:

The Council has organized a one-day seminar on July 27 2002 at Bhurban, so that the mapping strategy that has been evolved after extensive in house deliberation can be further refined with the input of key stakeholders. Leading Health Professionals, Researchers, Policy makers, planners etc participated in the seminar. The preliminary report of the seminar has been prepared.

The Council collaborated in the organization of a three-day Consultation on Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning with Aga Khan University, the National Organizing Committee of the Consultation and USAID. The consultation was held in the Shamadan Hall, Islamabad Serena Hotel from January 7-9 2003.

A lecture was arranged on Concepts of Bioethics at PMRC Head Office on August 25 2003. Dr. Farhat Moazzam, MD, M.A (Bioethics) University of Virginia, USA, and presently doing Ph.D in Bioethics at the same University, delivered the lecture on “Bioethics: An Asian Perspective”. The main theme of the lecture was how Bioethical issues are seen through a Pakistani prism. The Chief Guest was the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mrs. Raheela Yahya. Health Professionals from various Institutions/Organizations/Post graduate Medical Institutes/ Hospitals/ Ministry of Health and Science & Technology/ COMSTECH/PMDC/NIHD/Atomic Energy Commission & Medical Centres of Rawalpindi/Islamabad participated and had a good debate on various aspects of bioethics.

WORKSHOP ON THE APPLICATION OF THE GFHR’S COMBINED APPROACH MATRIX (CAM)’ TO PRIORITY SETTING FOR HEALTH RESEARCH IN PAKISTAN:

PMRC organized a workshop on “The Application Of The GFHR’s Combined Approach Matrix (Cam)’ To Priority Setting For Health Research In Pakistan: in Collaboration with NGO “Heartfile” and “Save the Children ” on August 20 2003. Dr. Khlif Bile Mohmud, Country Representative, WHO, Islamabad was the Chief Guest. Dr. Abdul Ghaffar, Consultant, World Health Forum, WHO, Geneva presented the concept of CAM in Research priority settings. Health Professionals from all over the country participated.

This was the first of a series of workshops in which a specific tool for setting health research priorities, developed by the Global Forum for Health Research, Geneva, was introduced and in subsequent workshops will be applied for setting priorities for Research in the fields of “Non-Communicable Diseases” and “Child Health”. The report is under preparation.

The Council carried-out an epidemiological survey to determine the prevalence of allergies in the population of urban Islamabad with special focus on seasonal allergies.

The Survey teams visited a randomly selected sample of 2800 households in April and May 2002 and collected information on standardized questionnaires. The data analysis and draft report have been completed. The report has been sent for review.

The data of this survey will be helpful in understanding the true status of the problem of seasonal allergy in urban Islamabad and will help in developing necessary strategy (ies) for the prevention and control of the problem.

A project for ‘Health Research Mapping’ developed by PMRC in collaboration with the Aga Khan University, Karachi; the Institute of Public Health in Lahore, Provincial Health Services Academy Peshawar and the NGO ‘Heartfile’ Islamabad, was approved and funded by WHO-EMRO/TDR. Data collection was started in May 2002 and completed in 2003. Data analysis has been completed. The preliminary results of the study were presented in the Regional Workshop in February 2003 at Cairo. The Report is under preparation.

The information collected through this study will be used for establishing database on the Health Academic/Research Institutions, Health Information Resources and Health Research undertaken in the country.

World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Programme on Evidence for Health Policy Office, Geneva has designed a World Health Survey (WHS) to compile comprehensive baseline information on the health of populations. It supplements routine Health Information Systems (HIS) by providing regular or intermittent monitoring of particular issues that cannot be undertaken by the routine HIS.

The WHO Survey is a multi-country survey, which aims to cover various countries from the entire WHO region. The survey is gathering data on health status, disability, responsiveness and provision of health services in a wide range of health systems.

Develop a means of providing valid, reliable and comparable information, at low cost, to supplement the information provided by routine information systems;

Build the evidence base necessary for policy-makers to monitor if health systems are achieving the desired goals, and to assess if additional investment in health is achieving the desired outcomes; and

Provide policy-makers with evidence they need to adjust their policies, strategies and programmes as necessary

Pakistan is one of the participants among 70 counties. An agreement was signed by the Deputy Director General Health, Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Health with World Health Organization, survey office Geneva. PMRC is organizing and coordinating the data collection, entry into computers and transmission of data to WHO.

The Pre-test of WHS was carried out at two centers, Karachi and Peshawar in July –August 2002. The main survey is currently on going.

A PC-I for developing HSR Centre in Provincial Health Directorate including AJ&K along with attached field areas for training in HSR was submitted to the MoH for funding in December 2001. It has been approved in the DDWP meeting held on 3-4-2002 (16.271 M); the funds are not released, implementation of the project will be initiated when the funds are released.

The project is aimed to institutionalise HSR within the Health Care Delivery System through the establishment of a sustainable mechanism for HSR within the Health Care Delivery System of the country. Five HSR Centres one in each province and AJK at the Health Directorate will be established, which will provide the infrastructure and mechanism for Health Systems Research (HSR). Field Experimental Areas for each Centre will also be established.

The Council has been planning to develop a Health Information Resource Centre (HIRC), not only to facilitate the access of health researchers and academicians to information but also to proactively disseminate information to keep the health professionals up-dated on recent developments and actively promote the use of information by various stake-holders in the health care field. It is also aimed to promote IT knowledge among health professionals.

It is aimed that PMRC would coordinate data collection activities (generated within Pakistan), organization, storage, retrieval and dissemination of health information / resources in electronic formats through its dedicated portal, the website, which is being developed and accessible under the URL: www.pmrc.org.pk with the following features characterized to be put on line:

Vital to this site is to provide access to bibliographic citations of journal articles under the standard medical subjects headings (MeSH) and each citation to be linked with its full text article published in Pakistani biomedical journal(s).

A PC-I for the establishment of the resource centre titled ‘Health Information Resource Centre: Pakistan Health Information Online’ for a total amount of Rs. 30.492 M was submitted to the Ministry of Science & Technology (MoST)’s IT & TELECOM Division for funding in November 2001.

In the DDWP meeting of the Ministry held on 27th September 2002, only The IT – component of PC-1 worth Rs. 9.46742 Million was approved. The remaining amount (21.05 Million) of the original PC-1 was recommended by the DDWP to the Ministry of Health for funding. The approved components are Hardware & Software, Website (6.894 M), IT Training Workshops (1.9232 M), and Tendering Ads and Advertising Cost (0.65 M). The work on the project has been started.

Under the South Asia Political Advocacy (SAPA) Project of UNAIDS/UNDP, a HIV/AIDS Database Centre has been established at PMRC Head Office in 2001. The five countries involved are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and India.

The purpose is to collect the existing evidence based (published and unpublished) information on HIV/AIDS in the participating countries for formulation of future strategies to control and prevent the AIDS epidemic.

The data collected, so far, has been presented in Regional meetings of Reference Groups from the participating countries, held in Bangladesh and India in 2003. A draft final report was presented in the Reference Group meeting in New Delhi, India, held on 26-27 September 2003. The project will be continued and incorporated into the National Aids Control Program (NACP), Pakistan.

The Council was established and has been working under a notified Resolution of the government. This has prevented it from being fully autonomous (administratively and financially) and as a result effective functioning of the Council has been restricted. Following a Supreme Court ruling, the Council has developed a draft autonomy bill for presentation to Parliament for adoption as an Act. The draft has been approved in the meeting of the PMRC Board of Governors (BoG) and has been submitted for processing for presentation to the Federal Cabinet on 09-10-2001. The establishment division on 10-07-2002 suggested some amendments, which have been incorporated and the draft Bill was resubmitted to MoH on 31-7-2002.

With full autonomy the Council will have more effective role in the development and coordination of health research in the country.

The meeting of PMRC BoG was held on August 9 2002, and has given the approval for the re-structuring of the Council. Out of 18 PMRC Centres the following 6 Centres have been closed due to low performance in research or having inadequate staff at some centers, in the first phase of the re-structuring plan.

The Council has been planning to develop Specialized Centres for research in priority areas of health. The overall aim is to strengthen and develop the Health Research System in Pakistan with the ultimate aim of improvement of the health of the population of the country.

In the PMRC Seminar held on Feb.2001, eight-priority health areas were identified. Four of the existing PMRC Centers will be strengthened and developed into Specialized Centers, which will focus on the targeted research while two specialized centres are proposed to be newly established. These are:

The PMRC Centre at JPMC, Karachi is being strengthened and developed into a Specialized Centre for research in Gastro-Intestinal and Hepatic disorders.

The PMRC Centre at NIH is being strengthened to become a Communicable and Emerging/Re-emerging Infections Research Centre.

The PMRC Centre at KMC Peshawar is being strengthened and developed into a Specialized Centre for Drug Research, Evaluation & Monitoring.

The PMRC Centre at Sheikh Zayed Hospital Complex, Lahore is being strengthened and developed into a Specialized Centre for Research on Non-Communicable Diseases.

Establishment of a Specialized Centre for Research on Mental Health Problems at the Institute of Psychiatry, Rawalpindi General Hospital, Rawalpindi.

Establishment of a Specialized Centre for research on Child Health is being established at the National Institute of Child Health, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.

These Specialized Centres will develop mechanism for the setting of priorities for research in their specific field and will determine strategies for the prevention and control of these problems; will also facilitate and promote research activities in the country on the priority health problems in these specified areas; and will develop Human Resource for research in these specified areas.

For the establishment and development of Specialized Centres for Research, PMRC has submitted four PC-1s to Secretary, Ministry of Health for funding and approval under PSDP on 24-03-2003.

Later, as per instruction of the Secretary Health, PMRC submitted a consolidated PC-1 instead of four, an umbrella PC-1, titled: “Restructuring and Reorganization of PMRC: Establishment of Specialized Centres for Research in Priority Areas of Health” to Secretary, Ministry of Health, on 12-4-03.

The establishment of Sentinel Centers is a part of the Infectious Disease Surveillance System proposed. These Sentinel Centres will be located in Medical Colleges/teaching hospitals where microbiology facilities are available. Some of the existing PMRC research centers will be established as Sentinel Centres.

Establishment of Health System Research Centres (HSRC) in all four provinces and AJ&K:

HSRC will be established in collaboration with the Health Directorates of Provincial Health Departments and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) in collaboration with PMRC.

PMRC has been endeavouring to develop a mechanism for the review of the ethical aspect of health research in the country. Consultations have been arranged in various forums on this. In the workshop on Ethics in Health Research held on July 27, 2001 at Aga Khan University, Karachi, jointly organized by the PMRC and AKU and in the recently held PMRC Seminar on Health Research on July 27, 2002 at Bhurban, recommendations were made for the development of Terms of Reference for the constitution of National Ethics Review Committee for Health Research.

The PMRC in consultation with DG Health constituted a small core group to develop Terms of Reference for the recommended National Ethics Review Committee and called its meeting on September 27, 2002. It was agreed at the meeting that:

The proposed National Committee must have a broader scope and may be called a National Bioethics Committee (NBC).

The committee would have an advisory role and would be a promoter of good ethical practices in all aspects of health care in the country.

It will be an umbrella body for institutional and organizational ethics review committees and panels in the country.

It will be an independent body but will have the Minister and Secretary of Health as patrons and will be approved and notified by the Ministry of Health.

PMRC will provide secretariat for the NBC and will be responsible for arranging its meeting and disseminating and implementing its decisions.

The second meeting of the core group constituted by the PMRC, in consultation with Director General Health, was held at the PMRC Head Office, Islamabad on October 02 2002, to select members of the proposed National Bioethics Committee (NBC) from among the nominations received by the PMRC Head Office, from different institutions, under various categories, from all over the country. The meeting was chaired by Major General (Retd.) Muhammad Aslam, Director General Health, Ministry of Health, Islamabad.

The Members of the NBC selected in the meeting, and the minutes of the meeting were approved by DG-Health on December 16 2002. The same were submitted to Secretary Health on January 1 2003 for the final approval and notification of NBC from Ministry of Health.

The Notification has been published in The Gazette of Pkistan on 28-01-2004.

The Workshop on Research Bioethics, organized by PMRC and sponsored by COMSTECH, has been successfully concluded on March 13, 2004.

National and International experts participated in the workshop and discussed / finalized the Terms Of Reference and Operational Procedures for National Bioethics Committee (NBC). The Notification, in this regard, will soon be announced.

SELECTION OF CONVENERS OF EXPERT PANELS AND MEMBERS FOR THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (TAC) OF PMRC:

The Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC)’s Board of Governors (BoG) Committee selected the Conveners of Expert Panels of the Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC), in its meeting held on May 22, 2003 for a period of three years i.e. from July 2003 to June 2006.

As per decision of the Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC)’s Board of Governors (BoG) the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC) comprises of one-third members selected from among Conveners of Expert Panels by rotation for a term of one year to act as members of Technical Advisory Committee.

The composition of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC), has been selected by the PMRC’s Board of Governors (BoG) Committee in its meeting held on May 22, 2003 for a period of three years i.e. from July 2003 to June 2006. The serving period of the Committee is by rotation for one year and it consists of 8 members (one-third Conveners of Expert Panels), including the Executive Director of the Council.

RESEARCH PROJECT ON IDENTIFICATION OF ASBESTOS CONTENTS IN VARIOUS BRANDS OF LOCALLY PRODUCED TALCUM POWDERS:

PMRC has conducted this study to evaluate the presence of asbestos fiber in most commonly used Talcum Powders. The project was approved in March 2002 worth of Rs. 113,260/- for one year and funded through Research Grant provided by MoH to PMRC.

The project was conducted through one of its Research Centres, located at Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, in collaboration with National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar. The project has been completed and the Report has been sent to experts for review and will be communicated to Ministry of Health after review.

PMRC has developed and submitted 5 PC-1s and 7-research proposal to Ministry of Science and Technology and 3 PC-1s & 5 research proposals to Ministry of Health, during 2001-2002.

Two PC-1s have been approved in DDWP meetings of MoH held in January 3 2002 and April 3 2002. However, funds of one PC-1 (1.74 M) have so far been released.

MoST has approved the IT component (9.46742 M) of one PC-1 in the DDWP meeting held on 27-9-02, funds have been released and work is in progress.

During 2003, five (5) PC-1s have been submitted to Ministry of Health, and one PC-1 to Ministry of Science & Technology through MoH.

Two PC-1s on Biotechnology research projects have been submitted to MoST, PTCL Division in 2002.

Six (6) research proposals have been submitted for approval and funding to JPRM, MoH in July 2003.

Eight research (8) proposals have been submitted to Pakistan Science Foundation for funding during the period July 1 2001 to June 30 2002.

Twelve (12) research projects have been submitted to EMRO DCD/TDR in April 2002.

Sixteen (16) research proposals have been submitted for funding to WHO/EMRO in June 2002. Out of these four (4) have been approved in April 2003.

Seven (7) research proposals have been submitted for funding to WHO/EMRO in 2003.

The PMRC Research Centres are actively involved in carrying out research in diversified fields of Medical Sciences. They also provide facilities to researchers at all stages of their research work.

The Council has published over 2000 Research Papers in various National and International Journals. From January 2002 to December 2002, the PMRC Research Centres all over the country have completed 32 research studies, about 32 research studies are in progress, and 34 new research proposals have been submitted for funding. During this period approximately 61 research papers have also been published by various PMRC Centres.

Seminar Report, ‘The Seminar on The Health Research Priorities for Pakistan”, 2001

Report of the Elderly Health Survey “Survey on Health and Living Condition of Elderly Population (SHLEP)”

Developing and strengthening the Health Research System in Pakistan: GUIDELINES FOR ACTION AND OPERATIONAL PLAN 2001-2006.

Report on Pakistan Health Education Survey on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP)

Pakistan journal of Medical Research, four issues have been published during 2001-2003, No. 40; vol. 2,3, & 4, No. 41; vol. 1-4; No.42; vol. 1-4; No. 43; vol. 1-4; and No. 44; vol. 1-2.

Preliminary Report, “The Seminar on Health Research System Development and Health Research Mapping in Pakistan”, Bhurban July27 2002

Publication of articles on health issues in news papers based on the PMRC research studies/surveys:

As per direction of Secretary, Ministry of Health, PMRC has been regularly publishing articles on health issues in the National News papers, so for 14 articles on health issues in various national newspapers have been published.