A panel discussion titled "Improving Women's Health in South Asia: Working towards achieving SDG 3 and FP2020 Goals" was held in Karachi during the 17th Bienniel Society of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Pakistan (SOGP) conference. This session was supported by Sukh Initiative, a multi-donor funded, family planning project serving one million underserved populations in peri-urban areas of Karachi, Sindh.
The panel discussion was moderated by Dr Farid Midhet, a leading family planning expert. The panellists include prominent experts of Family Planning including Dr Haris Ahmed, - Head of Sukh Initiative, Dr Talib Lashari - Technical Advisor CIP, Dr Razia Korejo - renowned Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Dr Azra Ahsan, a leading Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and Dr Laila Shah - Program Director, Sukh Initiative at Jhpiego.
Responding to a question by Dr Farid Midhet regarding Sukh's life cycle based approach to improve women's health, Dr Haris Ahmed shared that Sukh is a life cycle based approach reaching out to youth and people seeking Family Planning services in the target areas; educates them about reproductive health to be responsible adults. Family planning is a reality that should be seen as a part of the overall health environment and Sukh has demonstrated success by practicing this approach.
Dr Azra Ahsan shared her knowledge about the key enabling factors that can significantly improve women health in Pakistan. She emphasised that reaching out to hospitals at all levels, accessing health care providers, advocating and reinforcing that Family Planning is their responsibility is a key solution.
Dr Talib Lashari shared progress and key achievements of CIP to strengthen Family Planning. CIP was initiated in March 2017 and a lot of efforts were made including Sindh FP2020 taskforce lead by Dr Azra Pechuho. He appreciated support from all partners including Sukh Initiative and Jhpiego. Sukh's approach for Family Health Day has helped to break the traditional barriers. Through mobilization efforts and client mapping practices by Sukh, there is more awareness and acceptance to practice Family Planning. CIP has successfully covered its initial target of 11 districts and have now reached out to 29 districts across Sindh.
Dr Laila Shah shared her perspective on the importance of service delivery in maternal health including antenatal, partum and post-partum care. She shared her experiences of Sukh Initiative and mentioned that through concentrated efforts of Sukh Initiative, women in the target communities were well receptive to postpartum family planning services.
Concluding the panel discussion on a positive note, Dr Farid Midhet shared that every woman should have organised access to Family planning in Pakistan. We need to factor in the recent changes and development in the health care sector. By 2020, we will try that every woman should have access to family planning services. Dr Midhet further emphasized that achieving FP2020 goals is not impossible if we all work together.
The panel discussion was followed by experts' presentation of Family Planning related projects and experiences. Dr Tabina Sarosh from Pathfinders gave a presentation on 'Exploring provider's Behavior, Attitudes & Barriers to address biases using HCD Research Segmentation & Prototyping in Pakistan'. Professor Rubina Sohail presented her work on 'Moving towards SDG3 in Punjab'. Dr Farhana Shahid from Jhpiego presented 'MCHIP experience in rural Sindh'. Dr Azra Saeed presented her work on 'Multi-disciplinary approach to emergency management'. This was followed by Dr Shehla Baqai's presentation on 'The challenges of emergency response & preparing for disasters, Medical Perspectives for women'.
This session was attended by diverse audience which included Family Planning experts, health care professionals and students, Government dignitaries and civil society representatives. The session concluded with a token of thanks from Sukh Initiative for all the panellists and presenters. The audience appreciated the learning shared and Sukh's valuable contribution to health sector in Pakistan.-PR
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