Awareness campaign: Mithi festival hopes for healthy mothers, healthy nation

Dahar declares it a starting point for a long-term journey to improve healthcare in Thar

MITHI: This is not just a three-day event, it is an initiative for a long journey, declared Sindh health minister Jam Mehtab Dahar as a three-day health and nutrition festival kicked off at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Cultural Centre in Mithi on Wednesday.

Organised by the provincial health department, the 'Health and Nutrition Festival 2015' aims to spread awareness about maternal and child health, early marriage and water and food safety. It was inaugurated by Dahar, health secretary Iftikhar Ali Shalwani and special secretary for public health Dr Khaliq Sheikh.

Announcing that they would celebrate health and nutrition throughout April, Dahar said that he wanted to extend the initiative to other parts of Sindh. "You can start from your home, your village or your town, but at least you are starting from somewhere."

He explained that health was not the only issue at hand, adding that social, cultural and political factors also affected efforts for improvement. "Our initiative revolves around the idea that healthy mothers lead to a healthy nation," said the minister. "We are working on health awareness programmes and spreading awareness about family planning and the consequences of child marriages."

According to Dahar, fieldwork, surveys and research demonstrated the government's commitment to the land and the people. "It was a challenge to organise this festival in Thar, where the basic problems are nutrition, immunisation and family planning, but the people here helped us," remarked Shalwani. "We know we are not up to the mark right now but we are trying our best and hope to see 15 to 20 per cent improvement in Tharparkar's health sector next time."

Stressing the need to create awareness, he requested those present, including around 200 women from nearby villages, to spread the word to others.

With free entry, a full medical camp was set up to facilitate pregnant women, where experienced doctors provided advice and medicine. Meanwhile, over 30 stalls were set up by the provincial government and NGOs to disseminate information about health and nutrition.

Tableaus and theatrical performances were staged on themes such as maternal death, while cultural and musical shows entertained the visitors, including families coming all the way from Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tando Allahyar. Another stall painted polio drops on the cheeks of children to promote a polio immunisation campaign scheduled to commence after the festival.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2015.