August 29, 2019
Contact: Jason Green
Phone: 021-3527-5000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Maternal and Child Survival Improves in Sindh
Karachi: A conference to disseminate the key findings from successful interventions of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) to improve maternal and child survival in Sindh province was held today.
Sindh Minister for Health and Population Welfare Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, and USAID Director for Sindh & Balochistan Michael Hryshchyshyn addressed the conference. The conference highlighted MCSP’s contributions in helping to improve health by enhancing accessibility, availability and utilization of family planning services.
“I’m impressed not only by the accomplishments so far, but also by the dedication and innovative solutions used by the provincial government to achieve their targets,” Michael Hryshchyshyn said. “I hope together we can achieve the ultimate goal of comprehensively preventing maternal and child deaths in Sindh.”
During the past three years MCSP, working with ministries of health and population welfare, introduced and supported high-impact reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) interventions with the ultimate goal of averting maternal and child deaths. These included the development of learning resource packages for clinical monitoring and client follow-up; training of master trainers; improving women’s access and developing standard procedures. The program has also oriented and educated population welfare officials and developed guidelines and monitoring mechanisms. Further, it has helped establish antenatal counselling corners at government identified facilities for providing family planning counselling services. The program was funded by the U.S. government through a $5.6 million (approx. Rs. 896 million) grant.
For more information on USAID programs in Pakistan, please visit the following website: www.usaid.gov/pakistan.
