KARACHI, Sept 22: To reduce the maternal mortality rate, pregnant women should seek professional help at the time of childbirth. They should also be made aware that one maternal death could adversely affect dozens of families.

This was observed by Faisal Malik, adviser on health to the chief minister, on Wednesday during his meeting in his office with a delegation of UNFPA, comprising Olivier Brasseur and Dr Nasreen Khan.

The UNFPA team was urged by Mr Malik to ensure transparency during the funding of development and upgradation work of healthcare centres so that misappropriation could be prevented. He also called for constant monitoring of the projects.

The adviser underscored the need for procurement of standby generators so that emergency surgical operations could be undertaken even if there was a power breakdown. This problem particularly pertained to the rural areas of the province.

The UNFPA representative for Pakistan, Mr Brasseur, described the Country Programme Action Plan to Mr Malik. He said the CPAP was a four-year-programme which was the seventh countrywide initiative aimed at building capacity in the areas of human resources and infrastructure.

Under the programme, midwives and lady health visitors were going to be utilized to bridge the gap in women's healthcare. The programme would cost $35 million in all and the share for Sindh was $4 million, he said. This year the province was going to get $368,000.

Under the initiative, training would be imparted to midwives, lady health visitors and lady health workers. In this regard, concrete proposals had been formulated for Jacobabad and Thatta, said Mr Brasseur.

Renovation and upgradation of health facilities were also proposed to be carried out, said the UNFPA representative. Books and equipment would be provided to training schools for midwives, he added.

Training would also be provided to teachers and lady doctors under the programme. The renovation of the Civil Hospital in Thatta had already been completed, said Mr Brasseur.

The UNFPA team also met the chief secretary, Aslam Sanjrani, to apprise him of the status of CPAP. Aijaz Hussain, secretary SGA&CD, Mushtaq Ali Memon, the population secretary, and Dr Iqbal Deewan, additional health secretary, were also present. Mr Sanjrani advised the population secretary to implement his department's policies at the district and taluka levels.