Governor inaugurates project to reduce child mortality rate

LAHORE

Punjab Governor Muhammad Rafiq Rajwana inaugurated the Punjab government-UNICEF joint project for reduction in child mortality rate due to pneumonia and diarrhea at a local hotel here on Wednesday.

The project named 'Management of Childhood Pneumonia & Diarrhea on Revised Global Guidelines' envisages reduction in child mortality rate due to two major killers, pneumonia and diarrhea. The incidence of pneumonia and diarrhea is reported to be highest in the post-neonatal age group. The low cost, evidence-based interventions will be used to reduce their incidence among the most vulnerable age group.

Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafque, Parliamentary Secretary Khawaja Imran Nazir, Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan Khan, Punjab Health DG Dr Mukhtar Hussain Syed, officials of UNICEF, WHO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation were also present.

The Punjab governor expressed his gratitude to UNICEF and Bill & Malinda Gates Foundation for their support to safeguard children and service to the humanity. He said launch of this historic joint project would contribute to the efforts of the government to increase child survival in Punjab.

Adviser to Chief Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique said that child mortality was a comprehensive indicator that reflected the overall status of a country’s health care system. He said, “We lose approximately 63,000 children to pneumonia and diarrhea annually in Punjab. Every year, over 5 million children are reported with pneumonia and 30 million with diarrhea."

He said the loss could be reduced significantly through a holistic approach addressing both preventive and curative sides.

Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan Khan said, “The preventive health care in Punjab has assumed a more assertive dimension and aggressive focus. In this context, addressing the under-five years of age mortality and morbidity is the prime concern of our efforts that is steered by a provincial technical working group for child survival.”Dr Mushtaq Rana, the provincial project coordinator, UNICEF, said that the project would contribute a lot to the efforts of the Punjab government to minimise child mortality rate due to pneumonia and diarrhea, the two leading killers of children.

Dr Kennedy from UNICEF said that the child mortality rate could be reduced by implementing the recommendations of Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD) and by reducing the equity gap.