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| ‘Pakistan lagging behind in pursuit of MDGs’ |
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
By our correspondent
Karachi
The maternal mortality rate stands at 276 deaths per 100,000 live births, whereas the infant mortality rate stands at 78 deaths per 1,000. At the current date rate, it would be impossible for Pakistan to achieve the Millennium Development Goal No. 4 and 5 (to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health) by 2015 that the country is signatory to among 189 other countries, said doctors a seminar sharing information from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2006-07 conducted with the support of USAID.
The seminar, organised at Arag Auditorium in Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) on Monday, discussed the fact that Pakistan today stands second to Afghanistan in reducing its maternal and infant mortality rate, lagging behind countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where maternal and Neonatal services are much better.
Senior doctors at the event said that absence of maternal healthcare services, lack of education and poor performance of doctors at most public hospitals and basic health unit proves lack of commitment on part of the government in achieving the MDG target.
Sharing statistics from the survey, Prof Dr Subhana Tayyab, Chairperson Department of Gynaecology DUHS, highlighted the lack of family planning services and contraceptive prevalence in rural areas that stood at only 24 per cent as opposed to 41 per cent in urban areas in 2006-07. “Moreover, once women in the rural areas conceive, they avoid ante-natal visits to doctors owing to poverty, distance of basic health units and lack of transport and in some cases because their husbands or in-laws do not permit them to do so,” revealed the study. “Women are dying in these areas not because they can’t be treated but because the society does not think her life is worth saving.”
The situation in urban areas is not any better. According to the study, 65 per cent of births in urban areas take place at home, 24 per cent in private facilities and only 11 per cent in public sector hospitals. Highlighting the province-wise statistics, she said the delivery of healthcare services in Sindh was the highest (42 per cent) with the lowest in Balochistan (18 per cent).
In his presentation on infant mortality rate in Pakistan, Prof Inkisar Ali, Chairperson Department Paediatrics DUHS, revealed that there are currently 78 deaths per 1,000 children whereas the under-five mortality stands at 94 deaths per 1,000 children. “This means that every fifth child in the country (below the age of five years) dies either due to malnutrition or diseases like measles and polio,” said Dr Ali, who added that the overall routine immunization coverage had decreased in the past few years since the government began focusing on solely on the polio immunization programme.
Dr Mehar F. Hansotia, Chairperson Department of Community Medicine, who spoke on the marital fertility rate, said that the rate stood at 6.6 in 2007 which further needs to be reduced through family planning services. He urged for coordination between clinical and preventive services if maternal health services according to the MDG target (140 deaths per 100,000) is to be achieved even by half.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Secretary General Samrina Hashmi in her welcome address informed that statistics from the study related to maternal and child health project would also be included in the curriculum in government medical colleges across the country and invited further political support for improvement of women’s health services.
“It is essential that medical students are updated about such studies and are mindful of the health issues women are faced with, which will help them during their practice,” she said in her address to the audience comprising medical students.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
