Research for policies on mother-child health stressed

LAHORE
SPEAKERS stress the role of research-based evidence to action beyond 2015 in order to build better policies and practices related to maternal and newborn health in Pakistan.
Research and Advocacy Fund for Maternal and Newborn Health (RAF) organised a two-day conference to share their learning from more than six years of successful projects in Pakistan, and give profile to issues to determine the way forward beyond 2015. The conference facilitated debates and discussions leading to a call for action to support the sustainable development goals beyond 2015.
Research and Advocacy Fund is a key component of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)’s commitment to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, and their support to Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) in Pakistan.
Regional and international participants also shared learning from their own country’s contexts and how Pakistan could benefit from their experiences. Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal emphasised the importance of research funded by RAF and applauded its role in improving MNH in Pakistan, he said “It is indeed a great challenge for us as a nation that Pakistan is among those countries that has the worst social indicators.