KARACHI, June 18: Sindh Women’s Health Project has embarked upon a scheme to strengthen its “Women-Friendly District” programme aimed to contain maternal mortality and promote reproductive health education across the province.

Dr Najma Ansari, Director, Women’s Health Project for Sindh, said that under the scheme, four districts including Naushero Feroz, Badin, Shikarpur and particularly Umerkot in Mirpurkhas district, have been initially declared as “women friendly.”

“Through the project, Sindh has emerged as the first of all the provinces where the devolution process is being efficiently materialized in the health sector,” the project director claimed.

Reiterating that the scheme would be gradually extended to all districts, Dr Ansari said that to attain the above-mentioned goals, all institutions operating under the district health system are being strengthened.

All rural health centres, Taluka headquarters hospitals and basic health units in the above-mentioned districts are being revamped and adequately staffed, she said, mentioning that the idea is to provide immediate obstetric care as well as other medical assistance to women arriving for assistance.

According to her, the idea is not only to contain maternal mortality and morbidity rates, but also to sensitize women about the importance of reproductive health.

Besides the renovation of the above-mentioned healthcare institutions, the project is also constituting management teams along with a women’s cell.

The involvement of committed NGOs is again part of the programme and a few of the NGOs operating in the concerned districts have been made an essential component of the women health education scheme.

Efforts are underway to make the process more transparent and entail these and other NGOs in comparatively more technical activities.

For the purpose, a series of workshops are being conducted in collaboration with the Aga Khan Foundation, first of which has already been held in Badin, while the next is to be convened in Naushero Feroze.—APP