House of Lords function to celebrate the successful Pilot Maternal Health Programme in Azad Kashmir
House of Lords function to celebrate the successful Pilot Maternal Health Programme in Azad Kashmir
Mr Ishfaq Ahmed, CEO and founder of KIRF (Kashmir International Relief Fund) was awarded with praise from senior parliamentarians and professors in the House of Lords on Wednesday 26th January 2011. His team was invited by Lord Avebury to discuss KIRF’s newly instituted maternal health programme in Azad Kashmir. As a result of their pioneering work, which was supported by DFID and VSO, for the first time in Azad Kashmir, women from poor backgrounds and rural areas were provided with exceptional maternal healthcare during pregnancy and post partum. This achievement, contextualised culturally is outstanding; maternal morbidity and mortality as well as foetal compromise is of the highest in the world in this region due to pressure on women to deliver at their home without any support.
This project was implemented by enthusiastic volunteers which included doctors, nurses and public health administrators who flew out to the KIRF Community Hospital in Jatalan to implement the healthcare programme. They were able to identify complicated cases in a timely manner and institute medical and surgical interventions to save lives of otherwise abandoned women.
The function aimed to explore and expand this work into the wider region of Kashmir and Pakistan. Dignitaries from across the world attended this function as well as MPs, senior members of Imperial College, Kings College, Maternity Worldwide, School of Public Health, the World Health Organisation as well as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The function was orchestrated by Adeel Iqbal, a final year Imperial medical student who described the event as “an invitation to the international obstetric community to improve the lives of thousands of women and newborns”.
Professor Andrew Shennan, Principal Investigator and Director of Maternity Worldwide said he was delighted to collaborate with KIRF and invest resources into the region. Professor James Walker and Dr. Ghanza Siddiqui, both prominent members of the RCOG, praised the efforts of the individuals involved and offered full support from the Royal College to increase the operational standards of the KIRF Community Hospital.
Professor Alan Fenwick OBE, the director of the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative spoke highly of the initiative and discussed the importance of collaborations and the need for investment of resources and academic expertise in the developing world.
For further information please contact: adeel.iqbal@imperial.ac.uk
|
