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Saturday, June 29, 2013
USAID starts $387m maternal and child health programmeBy Amar Guriro
KARACHI: US Ambassador Richard Olson gave nod to the $387 million Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Programme in Sindh, here on Friday. Olson and Sindh Secretary Health Inamullah Khan Dharejo signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this five-year project. Under this initiative, US Agency for International Development (USAID) will support Pakistan’s efforts to reach more mothers and children with integrated family planning, maternal, newborn, and child health services, and ultimately reduce maternal and child mortality rates.
“The main goal of MCH is to reduce maternal and infant mortality. This includes ambitious targets such as averting 4,000 maternal deaths, reducing infant mortality by 13 percent and increasing the use of skilled birth attendants by 38 percent,” said Ambassador Olson. MCH Programme aims to support innovative approaches for strengthening capacity of public and private sectors by delivering high-impact, evidence-based health interventions such as service delivery, awareness rising, and health-system strengthening, Olson further said.
The programme will also provide technical assistance to the health and population sectors at the federal, provincial, and district levels to reform and improve service delivery, he stated. US Ambassador went on to say that MCH Programme will help forge partnerships between international and local health experts and Pakistan’s vibrant private sector to bring cutting-edge health approaches and models to Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Through these efforts, more women will have access to emergency obstetric care, modern contraception, and quality essential newborn care, he said. New mothers will also be provided with critical information regarding hygiene, nutrition, immunisations, and treatment of common illnesses for their children through the first five years of life. This new MCH Programme continues a five-decade-old tradition of US support to Pakistan in building and improving a quality healthcare system. During the 1950’s the United States helped Pakistan establish Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). In the 1960s the United States helped introduce oral rehydration kits to Pakistan, as well as decreased the number of malaria cases from seven million to less than 10,000.
More recently, in the past three years, United States has helped Pakistan build two hospitals (one at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medicial Centre-JPMC in Karachi and another in Bagh, Kashmir). Construction of a third, a state-of-the-art medical centre in Jacobabad is underway. United States has also helped Pakistan reconstruct and equip 155 health units, triple the size and modernise the Central Warehouse for Health Commodities in Karachi, and helped thousands of medical professionals upgrade their skills.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk