30 percent pregnant women lack antenatal care facilities

More than 30 percent pregnant women do not have any antenatal care facilities in Pakistan which is one of the main causes of high mortality among neonates, Business Recorder has learnt. Only 10 to 15 mothers receive postnatal care besides 1/3 pregnant and 1/2 lactating women have less than 70 percent of the recommended caloric intake.
Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) situation is very bad in country as every minute a child under the age of five year dies in Pakistan, while every 20-minute a woman dies due to problems related to pregnancy. Nearly 400,000 children under the age of five-year die every year, out of those about 280,000 die within 28 days after their birth. When contacted Programme Director MNCH Sindh, Dr Sahib Jan Badar shared data on MNCH situation in Pakistan. She underscored that less than 30 percent women did not have any antenatal care facilities. Nearly 37 percent women were anemic (hemoglobin (Hb) levels below 12 gm percent while one third pregnant and half lactating women had less than 70 percent of the recommended caloric intake and only 10 to 15 percent received postnatal care.
There were 37.9 million women in the reproductive age group (15-49 years) and nearly 22 million (69 percent) live in rural areas and merely 36 percent couples use contraception. The gap between use of contraceptives and the desire to limit births was one of the largest in the world (33 percent).
Badar said that main components of the programme included comprehensive and integrated MNCH services at the district level, community based skilled birth attendants, comprehensive family planning services at health facilities and strengthening of nursing examination board.
Studies have shown that women and families did not focus on how to prepare and plan for the delivery, or for potential pregnancy and birth related health emergencies, she added. Only some women, families or birth attendants were aware of newborn complications and awareness of prenatal and postpartum complication was equally low and often misunderstood, she noted.
Sindh Secretary, Health Hashim Raza Zaidi said the main hindrance in high mortality of mother and children is because of lack of awareness particularly in rural areas. He said that MNCH programme is being run with the help of the federal government, focusing on Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 and 5 to reduce the mortality of children and mothers. This is a six-year programme worth Rs 3200 million, which is expected to be completed by 2013.