FARUKH SHEHZAD

ISLAMABAD, MAR 20: Cases of domestic violence across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa saw a rise in the aftermath of the pandemic-triggered lockdowns. This posed serious implications for women’s wellbeing, their sexual and reproductive health, their mental health, and their ability to participate and lead in the recovery of our societies and economy. 

The situation was graver in communities with high rates of illiteracy and multi-dimensional poverty.”  

These views were shared by Tayyaba Aurangzeb – Deputy Director Operations/Country Director (Acting/Interim) in a press statement issued by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) at the conclusion of its Reproductive Health initiative supported by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Pakistan Village Development Program (PVDP).

Simultaneous to the outbreak of COVID-19,the increased incidence of violence against women and girls globally, especially domestic violence led the United Nations to declare it as a “shadow pandemic.” Speaking about IRC’s contribution to alleviating this grim situation she added, “We launched an intervention to improve the health and safety of women and girls, with a focus on those with reduced access to Reproductive Health (RH), and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) response services during the pandemic.”

During the course of the intervention, IRC delivered an essential and life-saving integrated package of GBV and RH interventions to women, adolescent girls, transgender people and men, in Swat and Peshawar Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. 

These districts were selected owing to a high need and minimal availability of SRH and GBV services as part of the humanitarian response.

IRC in partnership with the provincial government, ensured delivery of health services including prenatal, natal, infant care, family planning, contraceptives, and nutrional councelling. 

In addition, IRC established 10 safe spaces to deliver psychological councelling, awareness and vocational training to those most in need in the target districts of Swat and Peshawar.

Capacity-building exercises were also conducted so that women in the targeted districts had information, power, and resources to decide in case they wished to seek Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender-Based Violence response services. 

Efforts were also made to ensure that women and girls at an individual and community level had the demonstrative capacity to respond when faced with a crisis situation.

“International Rescue Committee remains hopeful that this intervention will go a long way in creating an enabling environment to effectively respond to issues of Reproductive Health as well as Gender-Based Violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” read the statement.

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ISLAMABAD, MAR 10: Master Group of Industries, a leading business entity consisting of Master Motor, Foton, and Master MoltyFoam has announced to donate its first-ever completely fabricated Foton M-280 Truck with a Mother and Child care facility unit to Shahid Afridi Foundation.

The kind act is intended to extend the support, accessibility, and to provide healthcare services to mothers, unborn children, infants, and women of the Chakwal-Balkasar region.

The donation ceremony was held at Master Capital Motors, a dealership of Master Motor in Turnol, Islamabad, Pakistan.

The event was attended by notable guests including Shahid Afridi, CEO of Master Motor Mr. Samir Malik, COO of Master Motor Mr. Raza Ansari, Regional Head of Foton China Mr. David Lee, Chairman of REDO Foundation Mr. Hasan Sultan, and CEO of Ahmed Medix Mr. Sohail Ahmad among others.

Speaking at the occasion, CEO of Master Motor, Mr. Samir Malik said, ‘the vision of Master Group of Industries is to promote progress and prosperity across Pakistan to build a better future.’

He praised Shahid Afridi and his team for their commitment to helping Pakistan by improving the conditions of the underprivileged communities in terms of Education, Healthcare, Access to Water, Sports Rehabilitation, and Emergency Relief Response.

He further talked about the high infant mortality rate of 42 to 62 deaths per 1000 births in the region and how this unit will serve the purpose of reducing this number.

Adding on, Shahid Afridi talked about how he wanted to target his relief efforts in those regions which are difficult to access due to transportation and logistics constraints.

He further added that it was his dream to have such a healthcare unit in operation that could provide quality health services to inaccessible areas.

Today this dream was fulfilled through the generous support of Master Motor, Foton, and Master MoltyFoam.

This Foton Master Mother and Child Care Unit is fabricated on Foton M-280 Truck and will serve within the 50KM radius from Chakwal to Balkasar, covering approximately 300 villages - free of cost.

The health truck is well-equipped with an analyzer (for blood, urine & chemistry sampling) and an Ultrasound machine along with other facilities.

It helps provide a comprehensive clinic solution to the mothers and infants in these remote areas where traveling options for women and children are severely limited and quality healthcare is not available.

The Foton Health Care Unit will allow doctors to test for diseases, identify and diagnose problems instantly and help save lives by providing early diagnosis and treatment.

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KARACHI, MAR 10: Pakistan is facing a steep rise in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD). Recent figures from IDF Atlas are staggering depicting a sharp increase in diabetes. Pakistan ranked 3rd in number of people living with diabetes in the world only after China and India, the countries with highest number of populations.

In Pakistan, 1 in 4 adults (26.7%) are living with diabetes accounting for 33 million people, the burden of the disease is expected to increase as about 10.5 million people suffer from intermittent hyperglycemia and this disease is responsible for 400,000 premature deaths annually. If no community-based campaigns are initiated to intervene, the number is expected to increase.

This major public health challenge requires immediate plan of action. These actions include standardization of care at public and private sectors, development and implementation of nationwide diabetes registry and integrated approach to diabetes and NCD care. Continuing education in management, cultural competence and leadership developmental programs are also responsibilities of public health.

Hence, training and capacity building for NCD managers at all levels is the key for initiation of successful prevention plans in future. Moreover, utilization of electronic, social and print media for propagation of the right message is of utmost importance.

Producing advocates of health for policy development, education and other relevant stakeholders for community-orientated prevention strategies will lead to better and integrated programs leading to better service provision for community. 

As a research-driven pharmaceutical company, Getz Pharma has always taken an active role in supporting advanced scientific studies that can help patients and healthcare professionals in dealing with life-threatening diseases.

This time, Getz Pharma is proud to enter into an agreement with BIDE (Baqai Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology) and SZABIST to promote academic and research activities across the country, particularly in the area of non-communicable diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus.

Getz Pharma, BIDE, and SZABIST aim to form a unique collaborative platform which will allow experienced physicians and researchers at BIDE in engaging the academically advanced graduate students at SZABIST in scientific research to generate valuable insights into areas of NDCs, particularly Diabetes. The three patrons will also engage in activities centered on capacity building of healthcare providers.

“SZABIST Life Sciences department is engaged in qualitative research in different areas of Public Health to provide solutions to prevailing problems. Graduate students are very strong assets that can be utilized to carry out innovative research to solve public health challenges.

An alliance between hospitals, educational institutes and industry leaders can just be the key we need to address severe public health challenges like non communicable diseases” – Shahnaz Wazir Ali – President SZABIST.

Speaking on the occasion Khalid Mahmood – Managing Director and CEO of Getz Pharma highlighted that “The main objective behind this initiative was to bring the three organizations under a single platform and formulate a strategy for collaborative research activities, capacity building of healthcare professionals, increasing awareness of communities and sensitizing policymakers to take immediate actions”.

Specific insights generated by the data can be utilized for making strategies for effective management of diseases.

By bringing all the stakeholders in the industry on a single platform, Getz Pharma has taken the first step in establishing meaningful partnerships that will address the needs of local population.

Appreciating Getz Pharma’s efforts, Dr. Abdul Basit – Director of BIDE says, “Getz Pharma has always come up with creative solutions to address the healthcare challenges.

By initiating this partnership, they are helping us in standardization of diabetes care across the country and developing preventive strategies for the people who are at high risk of developing non-communicable diseases and striving to develop a healthy nation.

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 31: Pakistan’s digital frontrunner, Zong 4G, in collaboration with telehealth startup, SehatKahani, organized a digital health session on the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus for all the country at large. Employees and their families also attended this useful session.

Of late, Omicron has taken the world by storm as the most infectious variant of Covid, causing a rapid surge in the spread of Covid-19 worldwide and giving rise to the 5th wave of the pandemic in Pakistan.

Being aware of the virus’s changing patterns and the risks it brings for Pakistan, Zong joined forces with SehatKahani to educate the people about preventing the disease and leading a healthy life amid the pandemic and its new variants.

“We want to equip all our people with the right information regarding Coronavirus and its emerging variants of which Omicron is the latest and most infectious,” shared Zong’s official spokesperson.

“With most of the people continuing to work from home, it was crucial to educate them and those around them on the hazards of Omicron and the ways to prevent it to lead a healthy life amid the surge.”

“We’re happy to have joined hands with SehatKahani once again, this time to appraise our people and their loved ones about how Omicron behaves so that it can be avoided as much as possible.

This is just a small show of our care for Zong employees and all other Pakistanis,” the spokesperson added.

Zong had partnered with SehatKahani last year to offer thousands of free remote and online consultations for the marginalized strata of the society.

This collaboration is still on-going and shall continue to support the people of Pakistan.

Zong offered more than 12,000 e-health consultations to the underprivileged members of the community via the SehatKahani Retail app. 

7,000 of these consultations facilitated Covid-19 relief patients whereas 5,000 consultations were applicable to non-Covid cases.

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