Pakistan renews their commitment to reduce maternal and child mortality

On 13 May 2015, and inter-provincial meeting was held in Islamabad to present the new National Vision for Coordinated Priority Actions to Address Challenges of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Nutrition in Pakistan. Minister for National Health Services, Saira Afzal Tarar, presented the vision and reiterated the commitment that mother and child safety through proper immunization and better nutrition remains a major priority for the country.

The document helps to set national priorities, sets out clear budgeted targets and aims to mobilize civil society. It puts a strong focus on social determinants and addressing inequities in health while prioritising a multi-sectorial approach with strong links to nutrition, reproductive health and family planning.

Participants at the meeting in Islamabad. Photo Source: A Promise Renewed

Read the article to learn more here

A Promise Renewed (APR) is the banner under which some governments and partners are uniting to reduce under-five mortality rates. Facilitated by UNICEF, ARP supports concerted actions on three fronts; strengthening evidence-based country action plans, monitoring and reporting and promoting global communication and social mobilization for child survival. For more information, visit http://www.apromiserenewed.org/

Other global efforts to improve reproductive, maternal, new-born and child health include;

• Every Women Every Child (EWEC)is one of six initiatives[4] of the United Nations Secretary General that are building political momentum with member states to achieve the MDGs. As of February 2014, 74 countries (including 41 SUN countries) had made ambitious pledges to do more for women’s and children’s health. Every Woman Every Child aims to save the lives of 16 million women and children and improve the lives of millions more http://www.everywomaneverychild.org/
• Thousand Days is amovement helping to build awareness about the critical 1,000 day window of opportunity from the start of a woman’s pregnancy until her child’s second year. The right nutrition during this 1,000 day window can have an enormous impact on a child’s ability to grow, learn, and rise out of povertyhttp://www.thousanddays.org/
• Every Newborn: an action plan to end preventable deaths(ENAP) is a proposal triggered by the recognition that newborn survival has lagged behind improvements of maternal and under-five survival. A draft global action plan has been made available for comment with the final draft to be presented to Member States at the sixty-seventh World Health Assembly, in May 2014. For more information about ENAP click here and click here to view and comment on the draft plan before 28 February 2014.