January 24, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 23, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: State Minister for Health Shehnaz Sheikh says safe motherhood initiative has been the core issue of the health policy of the government.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the second “In-Country Training Programme” at Mother and Child Health Centre of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (Pims) here on Monday, she said since the Cairo declaration in 1986, the government had taken bold steps for implementing the safe motherhood initiative in all its health programmes.

The high maternal mortality in the developing countries is a source of concern to all, she said, adding, “We all must join hands to reduce this figure and give the women and children a bright and healthy future.”

Ms Sheikh called for reducing maternal and infant mortality in the country and achieving the Millennium Development Goals set for the developing countries by the World Health Organization (WHO).

She said the training programme conducted in collaboration with JICA and government intended to introduce safe motherhood districts.

The minister said the participants of the training programme would go back to their respective jobs, enriched and equipped with fresh knowledge and best practices. “The skills that they learn should be used to help reduce the maternal and infant mortality,” she added.

Representative of JICA, Nobuyki Yamaura, said maternal deaths per 100,000 live births were 340 in Pakistan, which was very alarming by an standards and was attributable mainly to the inadequate maternal care.

If appropriate steps are taken, many deaths can be avoided, Mr Yamaura said, adding that one of the major goals of the course was targeting various categories of staff from the THQ and DHQ hospitals and train them in safe motherhood management skills.

He said the basic idea of this course was to strengthen the capacity of the middle level health facilities and help them in applying lessons learnt here at the MCH for the safe motherhood, in accordance with their needs and resources.

Speaking on the occasion, the Pims executive director, Dr Fazle Hadi, said the MCH under the leadership of Prof Ghazala Mahmood and her team had been playing a vital role in meeting the MDGs in health set by the WHO for the developing countries.

Complementing the MCH team for envisioning the Safe Motherhood District concept, he said by training the obstetric care teams in 25 selected district hospitals, it was hoped that safe delivery would be promoted and it would contribute to the reduction of the maternal mortality rate in the country.

Dr Hadi said five DHQ teams had already been trained in the first course and hoped the second batch would soon join them in helping stem the high maternal mortality rate.