'Public participation a must to attain education and health targets'

First Lady Begum Sehba Musharraf on Friday said the target of universal primary education and health could only be achieved if every citizen participates in its attainment with a sense of national obligation.
She was speaking at the award-giving ceremony of an international contest organised by National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) to name the mascot for its projects, at National Library auditorium here.
Sehba said the social sectors remained neglected in the country for a long, but the present government focused on attaining them in line with the Millennium Development Goals with dedication. "The government is committed to make Pakistan an educated and healthy country by involving local community to fast achieve the goals," she said.
The First Lady expressed satisfaction over the NCHD for achieving significant results in the projects of universal primary education, adult literacy, infant mortality reduction and healthcare at district level. She appreciated NCHD's innovative approach in conducting the naming contest as a unique form of development sector advocacy, saying it revealed the creative talent of Pakistanis living in the country and abroad.
Chairman NCHD, Dr Nasim Ashraf in his welcome address said his organisation made a success story in a four-year span by scaling up its operations on education and health from two to 50 districts.
He said NCHD aimed at targeting at least one educated woman per house in rural areas, to get 85 percent literacy rate by year 2012, which would be three years ahead of the MDGs' 2015 target year.
Dr Ashraf said during the last two years, NCHD through its 'Nimkol project' taught three million women on making ORS thus reducing child mortality rate by 30 percent.
Later, Begum Sehba Musharraf unveiled the NCHD logo with the name "Ilmoo" which characterised the attributes of a personality committed to educate masses for bringing social change in the country.
First prize for education scholarship worth Rs 100,000 was awarded to Nabeel Ahmad, a student of Samanabad Technology College Faisalabad. Second prize of Rs 50,000 was given to Yasmeen Muhammad, Karachi and third prize to Javed Iqbal of Rawalakot.