Call for adopting birth spacing to save lives of mother, child

Birth spacing to save the lives of both mother and child should be adopted as national policy for promoting maternal and child health care, said Imtiaz Shaikh, Advisor to Chief Minister Sindh, here on Wednesday. He was addressing a seminar on "Reinvigorating Family Planning in Pakistan: The FALAH Experience," organised by The Family Advancement for Life and Health (FALAH) Project at local hotel here.
The seminar was widely attended by representatives from the Sindh Government, USAID, donor organisations, academics, NGOs, and civil society. Imtiaz Shaikh, who was chief guest of the seminar, acknowledged FALAH's contribution to Pakistan's family planning debate and the Sindh government's commitment to improving the reproductive health of its citizens.
He was of the view that religious clerics should be taken on board while making the masses cognised on the importance of birth spacing. He called for political motivation in curtailing population growth, saying that without political will projects to maintain population growth could not be materialised. Population control is mandatory for economic growth of country, he added.
"Maternal and child healthcare are our priority areas within the health sector," remarked Nora Madrigal, Health Development Officer of USAID. "We at USAID gratified that the preliminary results presented today show the positive impact of the FALAH initiatives in improving the unmet need for family planning services," Madrigal said.
"I believe seminars such as these can successfully take forward the lessons learnt over the past five years, make the lessons learnt sustainable and institutionalise the key interventions that have worked and reverse the unsatisfactory trends. USAID will continue supporting similar projects which are aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of mothers and children in the Pakistan," she added.
The Guest of Honour, Khurshid Naeem Malik, spoke on the importance of the "Birth Spacing" paradigm shift and the positive impact of the FALAH project in the province. Earlier, the health specialists of FALAH outlined the project contributions to linkages to better health outcomes through promoting the "Birth Spacing" paradigm shift, tackling the unmet need for contraceptive services and making the project agenda more sustainable.
The project has introduced the Basic Minimum Family Planning Contents Package, adopted in two medical colleges within the FALAH districts and which incorporates the Client-Provider Interaction Framework entitled "SAHR" developed to help providers meet the RH needs of clients. To improve paramedical training, FALAH has developed the paramedical curriculum on birth spacing and strengthened four nursing schools and 24 community midwifery schools to impart birth spacing training through the establishment of skills labs and development of master trainers. In Pakistan, every three minutes a mother dies giving birth. The USAID-supported FALAH Project aims to improve maternal and child health by introducing the innovative concept of 'Birth Spacing Saves Lives' and promoting the healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies. The five-year, $60 million, programme provides reproductive healthcare solutions and trains healthcare providers. FALAH is implemented by Population Council, the international research organization.