Lady Health Workers (LHW) programme has been declared a 'star' programme by international evaluation committees. The strength of these workers will reach to 100,000 till the end of this year. Federal Health Minister, Muhammad Nasir Khan gave this statement at a press briefing here on Thursday.
He said, the programme initiated in 1994 is presently covering 60 percent population with 96,000 workers. The government has increased their stipend to Rs 2,500 per month, he added.
The minister said the programme aims at to educating and promoting healthcare by bridging the gap between health services and communities by providing integrated health services at the doorsteps. The lower strata of the society have been given special attention in this respect, he added.
He said, according to reports, in Pakistan two women die every hour because of pregnancy problems. Lady health workers are playing an important role in saving the lives of women.
The increase in budget allocation from Rs 11.8 billion to Rs 15.9 billion substantiates government's special attention to the health sector. He also gave the details of some other programmes, which the ministry is going to start.
These include start of second round of world's largest measles immunisation campaign from July 2, 2007 for 16 days. Out of total 63 million children, it would cover 1.5 million, between the age of 9 months to 13 years. Whereas the programme of early detection of cancer in women, immunisation and prevention of deafness and blindness among the children are also going to start.
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