Training the next generation of midwives in Pakistan
12 January 2009
Eighteen-year-old Sumera
Daood, from Khairabad village in North West Frontier Province, Pakistan, is
going places. Following personal tragedy after losing her father and two
sisters to tuberculosis and cancer, she is committed to improving healthcare in
her local community. And as the joint breadwinner for her mother and four
brothers, she wants to make sure her future earnings are secure as well.
Having worked as a social activist during the National Polio Immunisation
campaign in 2005, Sumera is now one of 35 students at
the newly established, DFID-supported Community Midwifery School in Nowshera
District.
Travelling 30 kilometres every morning, she spends 100 Rupees a day on local transport. "It’s a long journey to get here," Sumera says, "but I feel happy that I am going to have the skills I need to help people."
Responding to an urgent problem
Improving access to better healthcare poses real challenges in Pakistan.
One in ten children die before their fifth birthday, two out of five children
are malnourished and 15,000 women die each year due to complications in
pregnancy and childbirth – the fourth highest maternal mortality rate in the world.
But things are changing. Last year, the government launched the national
Maternal, Newborn and Child Health programme (MNCH). Central to the success of this initiative will be
the creation of a cadre of trained community
midwives.
For DFID, health is a key priority of its current five-year plan for working in
Pakistan. Already the lead donor in this sector, DFID is committed to doing
more, particularly on mother and child health. DFID funding for the MNCH
programme will enable more
schools to open throughout the country, allowing 12,000 more midwives to be
trained and ready to work over the next five years.
And to ensure that aspiring midwives from poor backgrounds like Sumera's are not
held back by money concerns, the government has issued stipends of 3,500 Rupees (£25).
With hers, Sumera is able to study for
her university degree, contribute to the household income, and meet her sizeable travel expenses. "It's important that the government offers more girls the chance to
have the training, so they can work as paramedics or midwives," Sumera states
emphatically. "That’s what will save lives."
Facts and stats
- Out of every 100,000 live births in Pakistan, 320 result in death for the mother (the UK rate is 13 per 100,000).
- DFID is providing £91 million of support to the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health programme (2008-13).
- The UK will double aid to Pakistan to £480 million for the period 2008–11.
More
about MNCH on Pakistan's Ministry of Health website
