By Dr. Naveed Jafri, Save the Children Pakistan
The “Star Lady Health Workers” were very excited on the day of Lady Health Worker (LHW) Awards Punjab and reached the venue well before time. “She will be acknowledged by the Provincial high ups” that was the thought that crossed the mind of the LHWs. She would receive an award for her services in front of all major Stakeholders like National MNCH, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and a large number of representatives from the partners and civil society organizations.
The LHW program in Punjab aims to promote the Family Planning & Primary Health care services at the community level, in order to achieve the goals, Lady Health Workers (LHWs) from various communities are chosen, trained, and then supervised to provide all basic health care facilities to her own community. Up till now the National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health care has around 48,000 LHWs working in almost every part of Punjab providing primary health care facilities to the community.
Globally “World Health Worker Week” is celebrated from 8th till 12th April. This year Save the Children in Pakistan, in coordination with the Lady Health Worker Program Punjab, organized the event to award the best performing “Lady Health Worker” at Lahore in recognition of the important role a health worker plays in her community around Pakistan.
Dr Akhtar Rasheed the Provincial coordinator of the LHW Program appreciated all the Best Performing LHWs from the 36 districts of Punjab for their incredible work in the field due to which they are receiving the Award today.
Haroon Rashid, the EVERY ONE Campaign Ambassador, addressed the Lady Health Workers and said that ‘These women sitting with us today are our caretakers, they are the educators, they are on the frontline every day ensuring that mothers and children who do not have access to a health facility are taken care of. Their dedication and their efforts are commendable.’ Taking advantage of the opportunity he also requested the federal and the provincial governments to stand by the commitments they made and to increase the number of LHWs to ensure that a health worker is within the reach of every woman and every child in Punjab.
The Director General Health Services Punjab, Dr Tanveer Ahmad appreciated the best performing LHWs of the Districts and said that the regularization of the Lady Health Workers is a way forward for the government to meet their commitment.
As part of its Campaign, Save the Children has called on the provincial governments to increase the number of frontline health workers from 48,000 (8,000 Urban and 40,000 Rural) in the province to provide mothers with skilled support to improve child-feeding practices, including breastfeeding, and contribute to an increase in maternal and newborn care during the critical first 28 days of life that account for over 40% of child mortality. In addition, the governments must take measures to ensure that mother-to-mother support groups are established to improve feeding practices. Save the Children has trained a number of health workers to identify malnourished children and refer them to the nearest Outpatient Therapeutic Program site. We also train health workers on infant and young child feeding practices so that they can provide frontline advice and encouragement to mothers in the community.