Academic training concludes: Pakistan committed to promoting healthy lifestyle: minister

Minister for National Health Services Regulation and Co-ordination Saira Afzal Tarar said that health education and promotion is the key to healthy living all over the world and Pakistan is committed to take all steps to save and promote healthy lifestyle among the people of Pakistan. She was addressing at the concluding ceremony of two-week long academic training on health communication in Pakistan on Friday.
The programme launched on January 19 continued for two weeks at the Health Services Academy here. The training was attended by participants from local Public Health institutions and Department of Health, Sindh. The minister said, "Among other challenges faced by our country, promoting positive health behaviour is huge challenge, which can only be achieved through effective communication and education."
She also thanked and congratulated USAID, Johns Hopkins University and Health Services Academy for the commendable efforts that would enable people in performing with added excellence in the field of health. Designed to improve health outcomes for women and children, Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programmes under USAID's flagship Pakistan Maternal and Child Health (MCH) arranged the programme for training.
"Health Communication is not a part of public health, but it is public health" said Dr Zaeem ul Haq, Senior Technical Adviser, MCH Programme and Lead Course Facilitator. "Bringing health communication to academics was a dream that has been realised with the kind support of Dr Assad Hafeez. I would like to thank him and USAID for their tremendous support. This is important step which will surely lead us to a healthier, safer and brighter Pakistan." "I am very excited to be in Pakistan on the launch of academic course on Health Communication," said Susan Krenn, Executive Director Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programmes. "I thank the Government of Pakistan, Health Services Academy and USAID for their tremendous support in making training this a success."
The ceremony was concluded with MoU signing between Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programme and Health Services Academy, to officially launch an academic course on Health Communication at Health Services Academy from March 2015. The ceremony was also attended by Monica Villanueva USAID Representative, Dr Assad Hafeez, Executive Director Health Services Academy and Dr Shuaib Khan, Deputy Chief of Party USAID MCH Programme Pakistan.
In Pakistan, with growing realisation of the importance of communication in public health, almost all the health promotion and prevention programmes have including social and behavioural communication into their courses. However, the lack of trained resource in health communication has been repeatedly highlighted as a prevailing gap in the system. Other countries with similar situation have addressed the challenges through evidence-based strategies with advocacy and better communication. Health Communication scholarships in these countries have advanced both theory and practice in different areas of public health including public health promotion, environmental health, health policy making and global health.