According to estimate published in Lancet July 2020, Covid-19 may lead to 31% increase in infant and maternal mortality in 12 months in Pakistan if health services remain halted, said Dr Shahzad Ali Khan, Head of Public Health Department, Health Service Academy, Islamabad in a virtual consultative session organized by the Health Service Academy Islamabad in collaboration with the Research and Development Forum for Safe Motherhood.
In this session, renowned public health experts both from public and private organization shared their experiences and suggestions to addressing the challenges of mother and child health services in present situation.
In his welcome note, Dr Aman Ullah Khan, CEO of Research and Development Forum for Safe Motherhood said that it was expected that mother and child health services would be comprised as Covid-19 put unprecedented strain on health system of Pakistan. But it would be important to make a roadmap for provision of uncompromised health services to expecting mothers, newborns and children in order to sustain the slow but gradual decline in infant and maternal mortality rate achieved in last decades after putting in lot of resources and efforts.
While presenting a framework on provision of mother and child health services during and post Covid-19, Dr Shahzad Ali Khan, from Health Service Academy, explained that the federal government and private organizations have already developed and disseminated guidelines and protocols on how to address challenges of services delivery in the current pandemic. Now it is also duty of all public and private organizations to work together for effective implementation of these guidelines at all the levels of service delivery.
Dr Nabeela Ali, Country Representative JSI Inc. shared her thoughts by saying that very limited health services are being made available at grassroots across all the provinces. She recommended that the office of Director General Health Services in provinces should take lead role in ensuring health services to women and children.
Sharing her experience, Dr Yasmeen Qazi, from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said that Family Planning services has gone from bad to worse in the current pandemic. Therefore, we should be strongly advocating for continuity of Family Planning services at all level.
“The evidence from the grassroots is informing that Family Planning services have been badly disrupted and availability of critical supplies for safety of health care providers like PPEs is not amply available at the facilities. Trainings for health care providers should also be immediately initiated to mitigate the impact of Covid-19.” Suggested by Dr Ali Mir from the Population Council.
Dr Farid Midhet, Team Leader DAFPAK Palladium, explained that Family Planning services are more essential than any other services. And role of Lady Health Worker is always important for ensuring availability and accessibility of health services at household level.
From UNICEF, Dr Samia Rizwan, stated that among others routine immunization has also been neglected during the COVID 19 crisis and there is strong need of communication for awareness more than ever to arrest prevailing myths and fears of communities with regard to seeking health care.
Concluding the session, Dr Atiya Abroo, Deputy Director RMNCH from the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination said that the ministry has actively responded to situation by developing many guidelines for health care providers and facilities. All basic information is clearly available in these guidelines now provinces can make their own by using these document. Currently, the ministry is working on trainings of primary health care staff which will be rolled out at grassroots level soon. She also appreciated the effort of Health Service Academy and Forum for Safe Motherhood for developing this framework which will help all the stakeholders to address the health needs of women and children of Pakistan.
