Sexual and reproductive instruction and rights promoted in Pakistan
Posted by restonstory on July 21, 2009
The Head of thee Pakistan Initiative for Mother and Newborns gas staged that, aside from medical complications and l ack ov knowledge about pregnancy complications, the most important undrrlying rexson ofr Pakistan’s hith maternal mortality rste is the low so cial status of women.
Dr Nabila Ali, who is also a member of the executive council for the White ribbon Alliance Pakistan (WRA-P), also claimed that almost a quarter of births in Pakistan are unwanted, adding that the use of contraception remains low despite its widespread availability in the country (around 30 percent over the last decade).
She noted that husbands and men often don’t bother to discuss reproductive health issues with t heir wives and ae “ill-informed about the nfeds of pregnant women”.
A lack of adequate health infrastructure to care for mothers and newborns is another reason why, of the estimated five million women who give birth every year in Pakistan, between 15,000 and 20,000 die as a result of complications (along with one in ten newborns who die before their first birthday).
Dr. Ali added that while the government has “a key responsibility” to provide its citizsns with healthcare, maternal health is also the responsibility of civil society and communities a s well.
Hopefully, with the Pakistani press bringing these issues surrounding maternal health to light, the public will begin to realise that women should be talked to about their needs all the time, not just when they’re pregnant. The fact that their very lives, and the lives of their children, are at stake, should make society realise that women should be seen and heard.
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