New plan for child protection mapped out

Saadia Khalid and Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: Mortality rate of infants and children under the ages of five is 74 to 98 per 1,000 live births and the maternal mortality rate is 350 to 400 per 100,000 live births, according to data of the National Plan of Action (NPA).

Social Welfare and Special Education Minister Zobaida Jalal disclosed these figures at a programme titled ‘Consultation on Developing Mechanism for Implementation of NPA for Children’ held on Tuesday. She said the NPA intended to reduce the infant and under-five mortality rate from 74-98 to 30-42 per 1,000 live births and the maternal mortality rate from 350-400 to 133 per 100,000 live births by 2015. “Numerous deaths can be prevented if the mothers and children are properly fed. This situation is further aggravated by micronutrients malnutrition,” she said. Jalal said that over 35 percent children under the age of five were short for their age, over 10 percent underweight for their height, while over 50 percent were anaemic. “New programmes have begun to improve healthcare facilities for children. The National Hepatitis Control Programme, Maternal and Neonatal Child Health Services, Prevention of Blindness, Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses and the National Nutrition Programme are a few of such programmes,” she said.

Jalal said the net enrolment rate in primary schools was 52 percent, retention rate 61 percent, while the gender gap in rural areas was “significant”. She said several steps had been taken to understand methods of child exploitation and abuse. “The NPA covers the main areas of exploitation and aims at child protection from all conflicting and exploitative situations, like trafficking and abduction. It will ease the plight of children who live under difficult circumstances and ensure registration of every child at birth,” she said. Jalal said an exclusive Child Protection Policy was being considered in collaboration with the provinces to create a state where children would be protected from all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect and discrimination. She said that the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development had established a cell to monitor the NPA’s implementation, adding that the plan would be a success. The NPA report revealed that over 173,000 children under the age of five died from diarrhoea annually, while a child suffered 16 annual attacks of diarrhoea at an average.

It says that 21 percent children weigh below 2,500 grammes at the time of birth, which is a standard set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This NPA is the second plan of its kind after the first one failed to get the desired results. It has been developed in assistance with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) after elaborate consultations at the regional, provincial and district levels. The government has also set a target to reduce malnutrition among children less than five years of age by at least 1/3 of the current rate, with special attention to children below two years of age. The target is to provide safe drinking water to 95 percent of the population and hygienic sanitation facilities to 82 percent by 2015. It also aims to reduce HIV prevalence among people aged between 15-24 by 25 percent by 2008 and 50 percent by 2015. The step will reduce the number of infants infected with HIV by almost the same percentage.

Home | Islamabad