May 30, 2003	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27,1424

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PESHAWAR, May 29: The ministry of health, Islamabad, has asked the NWFP health department to restore health education units at the provincial and district level to create mass awareness regarding the primary health-care programme, official sources told Dawn on Thursday.

“The NWFP used to be a leading province in health education which maintained health education units at the provincial and district level and nutrition and health education officer ran these offices. One of the officers was even sent to the USA for an MPH degree to further strengthen and expand the health education programme,” said a letter issued by ministry of health, Islamabad on May 8.

It expressed concern that these units weren’t retained  during the devolution process,  requesting to restore/create them, because health education was key to the success of all the preventive as well as curative services.

It said health education had been made an essential component of all health programmes in the health policy announced in 2001.

The health policy hints at the optimal use of multi-media, radio, TV and newspapers to air programmes in close collaboration with health and education ministries, National Institute of Health, Health Services Academy and National Programme authorities of anti-TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS control projects to raise public awareness.

It has also said that nutrition cell would be established in ministry of health through projects with required experts and mass  communication specialists to promote  innovative  and scientific methods to affect a change of behaviour among the people with regard to the implementation of the primary health- care programme.

The letter said there was an urgent need to improve the health education component of the health services in NWFP and start research- based and specific target-oriented programmes from all available channels of communications.

Only by restoration/creation of health education units at the provincial and district levels, the province would be able to coordinate their efforts with the stake-holders and strengthen the level of health education at provincial and district level.

According to the letter, there was a separate budget of Rs 150 million allocated for health education in each priority health programme at federal level per year. Likewise, provinces had their own budget.

Apart from the health education budget, amount for this purpose can be made available from other priority programmes, like Women Health Project,  Nutrition Programme, AIDS Prevention and Control Programme, EPI and Polio Eradication Initiative, Roll Back Malaria, TB Control Programme and the donors, such as, ADP, USAID, DFID, JICA, UNICEF are also willing to provide fund to enhance the HE programme.