Maternal and child health are critical to improving overall health care: what is good for mothers is good for children, too. HDF's approach is uniquely holistic & comprehensive. Community-based education and family planning have significantly reduced Maternal Mortality rates in HDF program areas. Mothers are encouraged to take proactive & preventative measures to promote healthy lifestyles. This is about positively changing the way women and their children live.
Maternal healthcare in Pakistan is facing a crisis. The maternal mortality ratio is about 276 per 100,000 live births (U.N Data). Pregnant women across the nation die from four major factors: severe bleeding after childbirth, infections, hypertensive disorders, and lack of access to quality care. Less than 45% of births are attended by some sort of trained health skill personnel such as a midwife or doctor. The majority of maternal deaths are preventable by providing adequate & accessible care.
HDF's maternal healthcare program provides community-based education and family planning, which have significantly reduced Maternal Mortality rates in program areas by over 46%. Mothers are encouraged to take proactive & preventative measures to promote healthy lifestyles, considering factors such as nutrition during pregnancy, birth conditions, & birth spacing. Services include maternal & pre-natal healthcare; growth monitoring; TT vaccinations; training birth attendents; & infant immunization.
Over 22,000 families receive health services from HDF's Community Health Centers throughout Pakistan. HDF proposes to expand these services in its Community Health Centers in remote areas of Pakistan. These areas have the highest rate of maternal and infant mortality due to lack of access to resources. Pregnant women and children are most vulnerable due to and geographical, social, economical, and political instability that has ravaged this region.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
