Media asks govt and political parties
to take up Mother and Child health issue as priority agenda

Despite the fact that a young mother dies every 20 minutes and around 30,000 women die in a year due to preventable maternal causes, Pakistan still lacks a National Maternal and Newborn health policy after the lapse of 60 years since its inception in 1947. Similarly, 30 newborn babies do not complete the first month of their life. The situation becomes quite serious in rural areas where 75% deliveries are conducted at home.

However, the issue never invites any media attention or create stir in the corridors of power for a positive action towards preventing these women and children. Now it is high time that the issue is taken up at national level as a prime political agenda by the government.

This was observed by the editors and senior media persons speaking at a Roundtable on “Improving profile of Mothers and Newborns Healthcare (MNH) issues in Pakistani media.” The roundtable was the part of initiative taken by Intermedia and Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN), to bring to fore the miserable MNH situation in the country and develop guidelines for common strategies.

The discussion was started with the two presentations – by PAIMAN Chief of Party Dr Nabeela Ali, on “Maternal health situation in Pakistan” and by Professor and Chair department of Pediatrics Aga Khan University Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta on “Newborn care in Pakistan: challenges and opportunities,”

While speaking on the occasion, Dr Nabeela Ali gave some revealing statistics regarding health indicators. She told the audience that for a population of 164 million people, the population-bed ratio in Pakistan is 1536:1 while in total there are only 122,798 doctors, 57,646 nurses, 25,000 midwives and 96,000 lady health workers in the country. While 62% of deliveries are conducted by unqualified personnel, the country still faces 33% unmet needs of family planning services. She said that contrary to the world practice where the number of nurses is more than the doctors, in Pakistan the figure is just vice-versa, yet there was no significant change in the number of midwives and nurses from 1993 to 2004.

She said that in order to meet MDGs target, Pakistan has to reduce its maternal mortality by three quarters ie 140 per 100,000 live births, between 1990-2015, but despite the lapse of eight years, the country is still standing at MMR of 350/100,000 live birth.

She appreciated some of the steps taken by the Government of Pakistan (GoP) like creation of MNHC cell in the m/o Health, development of National MNHCH Policy and Strategic Framework and the new initiative to train 12,000 community midwives (CMWs) in the next five years. She asked the government to change its strategy from demand-oriented to right-based approach.

She said, during 2004-2005, GoP allocated Rs 45 billion which makes up 74% of the total allocation for health sector while Rs 11 billion was contributed by the partners. However, proper use of this huge fund and its equitable distribution on rural and urban population still remains to be seen.  She said the priority should be given to the training and planning of trained community midwives, provision of EmONC (Emergency Obstetrics and Neonatal Care) services and comprehensive FP services.

Speaking on “Newborn care in Pakistan : challenges and opportunities,” Dr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutta said that out of 10 million children dying every year, ½ million die in Pakistan   and with these figures, Pakistan is ranked 8th in the world in child health.

He noted with concern that Department of  Health and Statistics (DHS) has conducted the population survey after 16 years and some of the figures issued after this survey show that there is hardly any change in  neo-natal, post-neonatal, post-infant (under five years) mortality rate.

He said that out of 4 million newborn deaths in Pakistan , around 23% children die of asphyxia (lack of oxygen facility at birth), 27% due to pre-term birth while 36% die due to infections. It is again quite alarming that the No. of girls dying due to asphyxia is more than the boys, which shows society's mindset for priority for boys. Even those who survive due to asphyxia suffer from brain damage and according to figures if one child dies due to asphyxia, then at the same time, 2-3 children die due to brain damage. While 20-30% children die due to low birth weight which is caused due to anaemic mothers.

However, he said by adopting simple preventive measures like TT vaccination, colostrums (mother's first feed)  administration, bathing the child after a day, post-care by a health practitioner etc. can save 70% of these newborn deaths. All we need is awareness and change of mindset.

At the end, the participants in an interactive session gave some suggestions for a way forward. Some of the suggestions included: launching mass public campaign specially using radio and regional print media, creating demand for MNH services among public, pressurising political parties to include health as a priority agenda in their manifestos for the next election and a public check for them to fulfil this agenda, cost analysis of the damage done to the economy of the house and the economy of the country due to the death of a mother and child, seeking proper use of existing funds allocated in the health sector, writing short series and serials on MNH issues for TV, capacity building of health journalists, sharing of information, research and findings among different govt and privates sector organisations and journalists for better and effective coverage and developing new partnership among all the stakeholders to raise the issue unanimously.

The workshop was attended by editors, senior persons from both print and electronic media, medical experts, scholars, columnists, artists and members of civil society organisations. Some of the media luminaries present on the occasion were Aga Nasir, Munno Bhai, Ataul Haq Qasmi and Talat Hussain.