Saturday, January 8, 2011

Birth In Pakistan

I chose to learn more about pregnant women in Pakistan and understand what there experiences are in giving birth. In traditional Pakistani families, the influence of cultural beliefs and values on birthing is highly visible. Especially in rural areas due to a lack of accessible, affordable, and quality health care services.   Home deliveries are preferred over hospital deliveries.  Because of this probability of mortality among children under five years is 97 per 1000 live births.  The home deliveries are done by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) or mothers in laws, who themselves are not trained.  As a traditional practice, the baby’s birth the cord is cut with blades or knives, and many times cow dung or ash is applied on the baby’s cord for healing purpose. This practice sets many newborns up for neonatal tetanus and serves as a factor for child mortality. Many families in Pakistan have experienced the anguish of losing a child, but little was being done to deal with the country's high infant mortality rate. Now Organizations are discouraging traditional practices by initiating training programs.  The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) was established to address the country's lack of obstetric care.  PAIMAN collaborates with community-based organizations all over the country to renovate and establish clinics, distribute medical supplies, educate the public, and train traditional birth attendants and midwives.  However, in the regions where the community is mistrustful of health care or where health care services are not available, potentially harmful practices for cord handling are still common.

2 comments:

  1. Leon,
    Wow, what an eye opening posting. I feel sad about even in 2011 in a country with money spent on all kinds of military abilities have not paid much attention regarding high infant mortality yet.
    Good news is, it seems like they are working on it now.
    Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Leon,

    this was very interesting information. I am still having a hard time understanding with such high morality rates why is it taking so long for action. The most surprising part about your posting was using blades or knives to cut the ambicial cord, the thought of this alone seems extremely dangerous. Thank you for sharing it was very eye opening.

    ReplyDelete