Daily Times

CHARSADDA: A high level (2nd) District Advocacy Forum (DAF) for Health meeting under the DFID/Palladium Funded/CUP Implemented Community Score Card Project was held in Charsadda which was chaired by the Assistant Commissioner Charsadda.

The purpose of the DAF meeting was to review the “agreed action plans” developed between the user communities and the BHUs management for the improvement of primary healthcare services in District Charsadda.

The Chief Guest, Noor Wali Khan, Assistant Commissioner Charsadda appreciated the CSC methodology and citizen feedback through horizontal monitoring, feedback and joint action planning by the use of the “Community Score Card” which empowers the citizens to provide immediate feedback to service providers.

Responding to the issues highlighted in the agreed action plans regarding the lack of basic health facilities in Basic Health Units (BHU’s) in Charsadda like absence of labor room facility, shortage and non-availabilityof essential medicines, non-availability of outreach services and absence of quality Anti Natal/Post Natal services etc. will be improved by boosting up the supply of medicines and equipment through Integrated Health Project funding and efficient use of existing allocated resources.

ColonelIftikhar Ur Rahman, the Chief Executive of Community Uplift Program (CUP) Pakistanpresented a detailed overview of the concept and working of the District Advocacy Forum, for health care improvement within the framework of Community Score Card Methodology in District Charsadda of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The purpose of the proposed “District Advocacy Forum” he explained isto monitor the implementation of the agreed action plans at facility level (BHU’s) accruing out of the joint interface meetings between the user community activists and the service facility (BHU) staff which are endorsed by the DHO and provide support to the implementation of the agreed action plans for the improvement of primary healthcare service delivery.

The specific objectives of DAF are (i) to monitor the implementation of the agreed action plans at facility level (BHUs) accruing out of the interface meetings between the user community activists and the service facility (BHUs) staff, which are endorsed by the DHO & (ii) to provide support to the implementation of the “agreed action plans” by allocation of resources from all quarters, guidelines to line departments such as C&W, Public Health, Municipal Services etc. for infrastructure works and making a concrete case for funding by the health department through a Provincial Advocacy Fund (PAF) already established as part of a DFID funded project.

The meeting was well attended by all key stakeholders including the elected National and Provincial Assembly Members from Charsadda including Mr. Moulana Gauhar Shah, Mr. Fazle Shakoor khan, Mr. Sultan Mohammad Khan,Mr. BakhtBaidar Khan, Mr. Khalid Mohmand, Assistant CommissionerMr. Noor Wali Khan, District Member & Chairman Health Monitoring Committee (Elected LG Member), District Health Officer-DHO, Deputy DHO, Mufti Charsadda (Representative of Religious Leaders in District), Representatives of Local Media, Dynamic Lead Activists trained by CUP (Representatives of Community), Notables (Members of bodies related to Healthcare), Representatives of NGOs/CBOs working for improvement in Healthcare, Representative of Independent Monitoring Unit of Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and CUP Pakistan Team.

The Chief Executive CUP Pakistan assured the meeting that with the implementation of the agreed action plans through DAF will result in Improved Primary Healthcare Indicators such as increased number of safe deliveries through SBAs, Improved Immunization, and Improvement in malnutrition of children, reduced citizen complaints, Increased Family Planning Clients, Improvements in Supply of Medicines, Improvements in Functionality of Equipment and Improvements in BHU Infrastructure. The longer term benefits of the CSC and DAF are likely to be reduced MMR, Reduced IMR, Increase in Contraceptive Prevalence Rate and Reduction in Population Growth Rate.