MNCH Program

Emphasis on improving the service delivery mechanisms for reducing preventable diseases. The policy focus is on continuous shift from curative to promotive and preventive services through primary health care.

Responding to the need for a coherent, innovative, sustainable, reliable and cost-effective strategy in MNCH, the Ministry of Health commissioned its National MNCH Strategic Framework in April 2005. The Goal of the strategic framework is “of a society where no family suffers the loss of a mother or newborn due to preventable or treatable causes”. The Framework pledges to ensure availability of high quality MNCH services to all, especially for the poor and the disadvantaged. The Framework aims to improve the accessibility of high quality and effective MNCH services for all, particularly the poor and the disadvantaged, through development and implementation of sustainable provincial and district programs. International Goals Pakistan is signatory to several international agreements regarding improving MNCH.

Most notably, the Government is committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in MNCH, which are:

• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015: The indicators to measure progress toward this MDG include under-five mortality rate; infant mortality rate (IMR) and proportion of one-year-old children immunized against measles. (Pakistan’s target is to reduce IMR to 40 per 1000 live births and to increase measles immunization rate to >90% by 2015).
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health by reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015: The indicator to measure progress toward this MDG include maternal mortality ratio and the proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel. (Pakistan’s target is to reduce MMR to 140 or less, and to increase skilled birth attendance to 90%, by 2015).

Website: MNCH, MNCH Beta version