English: Lahore, September 30, 2019: The U.S. Consulate in Lahore joined the Punjab Departments of Health and Population Welfare to celebrate the three-year anniversary of a program to improve maternal and child health in the region. The U.S. government-funded Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) was implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in coordination with the government of Punjab in order to provide better accessibility to family planning services in the region.

“I hope together we can achieve the ultimate goal of preventing maternal and child deaths in Punjab,” said USAID Provincial Director for Punjab Kevin Sharp. “The Punjab Departments of Health and Population Welfare have been valuable partners in this project, and we look forward to continuing to work together to improve the health of the people of this region.”

Punjab Minister for Health Dr. Yasmeen Rashid noted that the program helped improve child and maternal health, and provided valuable continuing education to population welfare officials, as well as developing guidelines and monitoring mechanisms.

Dr. Fauzia Assad, Country Director of Jhpiego, which helped implement the program, thanked the government of Punjab for their efforts to improve the lives of women and children. She said that the program has enhanced family planning service availability throughout the region.

The program introduced and supported health initiatives designed to prevent maternal and child deaths over a three-year period. Among the projects in this multi-tier program, initiatives included the development of educational resource packages for clinical monitoring and client follow-up as well as improving women’s access to family planning services. MCSP also worked with the government of Punjab to set up prenatal corners to provide round-the-clock counselling services to pregnant women.