It would be useful for readers of [him] to take a look at this plan. Can anyone at UNFPA send a copy to the moderator so that he can distribute it?
UNFPA drafts Myanmar plan for 2007-2010
Myanmar Times
Nwe Nwe Aye
THE United Nations Population Fund has drafted a plan for its activities in Myanmar from 2007 to 2010, which it will present to the UNFPA’s executive board in New York in June for approval, said a senior official from the agency.
“We would like to expand our reproductive health services to more townships to reduce maternal deaths and to promote prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as to increase prevention of HIV/AIDS,” said Mr Daniel Baker, the representative of the agency in Myanmar.
Last year the agency expanded its reproductive health services to include 100 townships and plans to expand to another 10 townships this year.
“Through the program, the UNFPA has been able to provide the drugs and equipment necessary for reproductive health services to hospitals and health centres in those townships,” Mr Baker said. “It has also provided training courses to basic health staff to ensure that women give childbirth in the presence of trained health staff and birth attendants.”
As part of the new plan, the agency will introduce a program for emergency obstetric care to reduce maternal deaths, he said.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Health, in 2000 there were 4300 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in Myanmar.
Mr Baker said many of these deaths have been attributed to the mother arriving late at the hospital due to inadequate transportation or financial restraints.
“Many women wait too long to go to the hospital because they are afraid of the expense, which puts them in danger of bleeding to death,” he said. “A lot of poor rural women cannot afford the cost of drugs and other services, even though they don’t have to pay for doctors at public hospitals.”
He said the agency was looking into ways to provide transportation for women to hospitals to help avoid complications.
The agency’s assistant representative, Daw Pansy Tun Thein, said the UNFPA has also helped the government’s National AIDS Program promote 100 per cent condom use in 25 townships, and plans to expand the activity to another five townships in 2006.
With the collaboration of the Ministry of Health’s Central Health Education Bureau, the agency has also opened 23 centres to provide young people in rural areas with information about reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.
It has also established two centres in Thingangyun and Thaketa townships in Yangon – which are operated by a non-government organisation, Marie Stopes International – to provide young people with health information and services.
“We want to bring down maternal deaths, so we are trying to use different strategies to reach out to all different population groups,” Daw Pansy Tun Thein said.
The agency has also provided assistance to the National AIDS Program to cut the transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their children during pregnancy, through breastfeeding and at birth, she said.
http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/MyanmarTimes16-307/n006.htm
