Safe Mother, Safe Family initiative

The misery caused by the recent flooding in Pakistan is yet to be over, as the already suffering health care system is overburdened by the flood-stricken families going through Malaria, Dengue, and Diarrhea. This situation has resulted in almost 650,000 pregnant women being neglected, and their health needs put on hold. Moreover, according to UNFPA, up to 73,000 women were likely to give birth in September 2022. They would all need antenatal care, newborn care, skilled birth attendants, and support. Fortunately, the Alkhidmat foundation has been extending its medical assistance to women and their newborn children.

The foundation is pioneering disaster relief services and aims to help women deliver safely and strengthen the postnatal care for them and their babies in flood-stricken areas. In order, to reach their goals, Alkhidmat organized a session for a discussion to organize the holistic plan to assist pregnant women, which included experts from the UK, USA, and Canada and within the country.

Furthermore, the plan is comprised of four parts; a network of field hospitals is established, post-natal care and nutrition of the mother and the child, mental health support for women, and supervision of the project.

Network of Field Hospitals:

The field hospitals will act as a hub for incorporated MNH & nutrition services and other primary care services, they will have ambulance and mobility facilities for transfer of the complicated cases and act as a base camp. Also, they will act as a center for information management for recording and reporting the facility as well as a venue for cascade training events for various cadre staff.

Post Natal Care and Nutrition

Alkhidmat medical volunteers make sure of dignified, safe and quality assured pregnancy care through the supply of clean delivery kits, newborn kits, and hygiene kits. Additionally, Mother, infant & young child feeding is taken care of throughout the process of motherhood & lactation, mothers are provided with Iron folic acid supplements and are taught about the advantages of breastfeeding. Lastly, the mothers and babies are vaccinated against diseases.

Mental health support

Gender-specific mental health support teams will be providing mental health support to the catastrophe-hit people and connecting them with appropriate technical resources, if & where needed.

Supervision

The assigned supervisors will be undertaking the task of assigning field workforce volunteers; conducting and reporting and conducting random monitoring spot-checks. Moreover, meetings to report the project will be taking place on a monthly and quarterly basis.

Pregnancies and childbirth do not wait for a natural disaster to be over, and assisting vulnerable women and babies should be our top priority. The initiative put forward by Alkhidmat, with the help of experts, provides promising guidelines to support mothers and children of Pakistan. As President of Alkhidmat foundation Muhammad Abdus Shakoor said in his message “Alkhidmat Foundation holds particular accountability to lead by example in equity and inclusion”. Let’s keep donating to protect the mothers and children of Pakistan.