The state of mother and child health continues to pose a great challenge in Pakistan, as more than half of country's population of women is suffering from various diseases mainly due to malnutrition.
The Punjab Minister for Population Welfare, Neelam Jabbar Chaudhry said, here on Thursday that infant and mother suffer from critical diseases due to non-availability of standardised nutritious diet, medical facilities, required medicines and absence of protective measures.
However, the people living in remote areas are not aware of the treatment and the protective measures regarding these disease/ circumstances, therefore, the doctors and the lady health workers should play their due role, she added.
She stressed upon NGOs to create awareness among the rural folk especially in remote areas, regarding the harmful effects of deficiency of iron as well as the proper food of mother and to teach them the protective measures to minimise the mother and infant's death rate.
While talking to various delegations, Neelam said that 70-percent population live in rural areas which are closely linked with the basic health centres, hence, the government is upgrading the infrastructure of basic health centres for provision of modern health facilities to the masses at grass root level.