In an example for other institutions to follow, the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) has become the first national university to add sexual and reproductive healthcare to its undergraduate curriculum.
To mark its achievement, the university organised a seminar titled “Integrating Reproductive Health in Undergraduate Medical Curriculum” on Wednesday, when a large number of medical and nursing students apart from its faculty members turned up.
“Today is a day of great satisfaction as the pilot project allowed by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council is has been implemented successfully,” said the DUHS vice chancellor, Dr Masood Hameed.
At the end of seminar, a reference guide based on the reproductive health curriculum titled “Prescribing Sexual and Reproductive Health” was launched. The book was divided into four sections and encompasses issues related to maternal, neonatal and child health, family planning, sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract infections, HIV/AIDS, sexual abuse, unintended pregnancies, abortion and post-abortion care, infertility and sexual dysfunction.
The university has achieved this educational landmark in collaboration with Aahung - a nongovernmental organisation working in the domain of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Aahung’s training and advocacy senior manager, Dr Sikander Sohani, told The Express Tribune that around three years ago, the welfare body had partnered with DUHS to incorporate these teaching modules in its undergraduate syllabus.
A three-pronged approach based on reproductive health, problem-based learning and evidence-based medicines has been used to improve clinical practices and overall health education. This issue was first brought up in 1994 during the “International Conference on Population and Development” held in Cairo, explained Dr Subhana Tayyab, the head of gynaecology.
Among the hardest hit by negligence are the poor and rural women. A vast majority of the causes of maternal and child morbidity and mortality can be prevented through simple technologies and approaches, she said. “Women are not dying because of diseases we cannot treat, they are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving,” she quoted Dr Mahmoud Fathalla, the chairperson of the World Health Organisation’s advisory committee on health research.
“By sensitising and educating medical students, we can help reduce infant, prenatal and maternal morbidity and mortality in Pakistan,” she added. Reproductive health issues were addressed to some extent in the curriculum but the content was not focused, according to Dr Raza-ur Rehman, the head of psychiatry. He said that the existing state of education fails to address the issue in cases of culturally bound sexual syndromes.
“We have succeeded in incorporating cultural and psychological aspects in the curriculum in a holistic manner,” he said. “This will enable the university to address all these issues with students, including culture-bound syndromes, quackery and other related problems.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2012.
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Wow great news.
Appreciate the step . it was definitely required. We must break shackles of old school thinking . Hope other uni follow the foot steps.