18 September 2004	Saturday	02 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Sept 17: Every year more than half a million women die during childbirth in the world. And for every woman who dies, there are up to eight others who are maimed.

These observations were made at a press briefing on Friday at which it was announced that a two-day symposium and several workshops, spread over four days, would be held from Monday at the Aga Khan University (AKU). The events would deal with issues in reproductive health.

The organizers on the occasion told journalists that the university had undertaken a survey on Maternal Mortality Rate in Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan, the details of which would be disseminated at the symposium. The study, they said, had found that MMR was particularly high in some districts of Balochistan.

They said 24 foreign researchers and scholars were expected to visit Pakistan to take part in the event. The countries they hail from include Singapore, Kuwait, Egypt, Malaysia, Bangladesh and India.

Not only would epidemiological data be presented at the event but also recommendations about ways and means to reduce MMR, said the organizers. Several sessions were going to be devoted to issues in fertility.

They said a study had shown that up to 15 per cent of the Pakistani couples faced the problem of infertility. Of these cases, 40 per cent were due to problems in men.

"Despite this stark reality, invariably it is the woman who is held responsible should a couple fail to reproduce," said one of the speakers. He said there were several papers on the subject of social consequences faced by such women.

One of the organizers said secondary infertility was, in many cases, due to infections following the first childbirth or abortion. "In an overwhelming number of such cases, unqualified people resort to dubious ways in their efforts to resolve the problem. "As a result, complications develop, making the woman infertile," she said. In many cases cow dung was inserted into the vagina of infertile women. "Not only that, in some cases the Dais actually use their feet to insert the waste matter deep into the woman's body."

The organizers also made the startling disclosure that about one million - or one-fifth of all births in Pakistan - are aborted annually. And what is more, the abortions in a majority of the cases are carried out by Dais or other unqualified people.

Turning to issues in research, the organizers said Pakistan needed to get its facts right. "Also, there is a need for us to learn quickly how to carry out translational research, under which ways to deal with various problems is studied."

They said the perception that there was a shortage of funds for research is wrong. "There are a number of organizations and bodies which could be ready to inject funds into our projects."

Dr Javed Rizvi, chairman of the organizing committee, said the plenary sessions would be followed by workshops for selected participants, providing young and upcoming investigators and health-care practitioners hands-on-experience in the methodologies and techniques applied in the area of reproductive health.

The event is going to be organized jointly by the AKU's departments of gynaecology & obstetrics, community medicine and basic health sciences. A panel of AKU doctors and other health care providers, including Dr Anwar Siddiqui, Dr Mehtab Karim and Tazeen Ali, also replied to the queries raised by journalists.