Incentivising performance: 36 health workers get Best LHW Award

More trainings stressed for health workers for better outcomes.

LAHORE: Thirty six lady health workers (LHWs), one from each district of the province, were on Friday given the Best LHW Award based on their performance in mother and child and primary healthcare.

The ceremony was organised by the Integrated Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health and Nutrition Program Punjab, Save the Children Pakistan and Reckitt Benckiser to mark Global Health Workers Week.

Yasmeen Shahzad, who won the award from Rawalpindi district, said that the award had made her feel that her work was worthwhile. “I feel encouraged to work harder,” she said.

Addressing the awards distribution ceremony, Advisor to the Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said the LHWs were the real heroes of the province. He said their efforts at saving lives and improving public health standards needed recognition. He stressed the need for increasing the number of LHWs in the province.

Save the Children Pakistan Director Dr Masood Abbasi said his organisation had launched a programme to reduce deaths from diarrhoea amongst children under the age of five in the province. He said the LHWs’ role would be crucial in the successful implementation of the Diarrhoea Prevention and Control Programme.

Health Secretary Jawad Rafique, Planning and Development Secretary Waseem Ajmal, Local Government and Community Development Director Najeeb Aslam and Health Services DG Dr Zahid Pervaiz also attended the ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2015.