On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the health department signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for flood effected areas under which the latter will restore 150 primary healthcare facilities in 21 districts throughout the province.
On the occasion of World Health Day, a ceremony was organised at the EOC Sindh office where the Agreement was signed.
In attendance were Dr. Palitha Mahipala, WHO Representative and Head of Mission Pakistan, Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, Minister of Health and Population Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Juman Bahoto, Director General of Health Service, and others.
According to the agreement, a global organisation will renovate 150 medical facilities, and the provincial health department will make sure that the medical system’s materials and human resources are available to maintain the continuity of care.
WHO is working on different projects in flood effected areas
In response to the floods from the previous year, the WHO strengthened 76 labour rooms, five neonatal intensive care units, five comprehensive maternity service centres, and 45 nutrition stabilisation centres across Sindh’s flood-affected districts.
414 Expanded Programme for Immunization (EPI) centres across Sindh are being upgraded with support from WHO to improve routine immunisation, with 66 of these renovations taking place in 2023 alone.
In addition to discussing the solarization of various vaccine storage facilities in the province, the health minister and WHO envoy Dr. Mahipala also spoke about the prevalence of zero dose children who will be targeted by the EPI and WHO during the ceremony.
Also, she commended WHO for the assistance it had given the province and the work it was now doing in collaboration with the health department.
To save vaccine providers’ time, Dr. Pechuho recommended that immunisation take place at predetermined locations, and that the community be informed of these locations.
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