Maternal Mortality Rate ( MMR ) is increasing in Pakistan and Afghanistan (in IPPF SAR) as per recent data available in a report titled MDG : Progress in Asia and Pacific (Joint publication of UN ESCAP, UNDP and ADB, 2007). The MMR per hundred thousand live births in Afghanistan during 1990 – 1995 was 1700 and it has increased to 1900 during 1996 - 2005. The percentage of births attended by skilled personnel in Afghanistan is only 14.3%. This along with unfortunate political developments in Afghanistan could perhaps be the reason for high MMR in Afghanistan . The MMR per hundred thousand live births in Pakistan during 1990 – 1995 was 340 and it has increased to 500 during 1996 -2005. This has happened despite 96% of child births in Pakistan attended by skilled personnel. We can extrapolate from these findings that a large number of mothers in Pakistan might be dying due to unsafe abortions. We might need more researches in Pakistan to find out reasons for the growing maternal mortality in Pakistan , despite the wide availability of skilled birth attendants. 

Research Summary: The social expectations of what men and boys should and should not do directly affect attitudes and behavior related to a range of health issues. A recent WHO report, named Engaging men and boys in changing gender-based inequity in health: Evidence from Program Interventions, found that almost a third of the 58 programs evaluated were successful in encouraging men to end violence against women, to care for their pregnant wives and children, and to take steps to prevent infecting their partners with HIV or becoming infected themselves. Programmes rated by the report as being ‘gender-transformative’ had a higher rate of effectiveness. There is evidence of behavior change in all programme areas (sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention, treatment, care and support; fatherhood; gender-based violence; maternal, newborn and child health; and gender socialization) and in all types of programme interventions (“group education; service based; community outreach, mobilization and mass-media campaigns; and integrated”). Relatively few programmes with men and boys go beyond the pilot stage or a short-term time frame.  Please see the full text of the report at:

http://www.who.int/gender/documents/Engaging_men_boys.pdf

Resources: PRA (participatory rural appraisal) and PLA (participatory learning and action) are participatory methodologies which have evolved as behaviors and attitudes, methods, and practices of sharing. PRA/PLA seeks and embodies participatory ways to empower people, enabling them to express and enhance their knowledge and take action. The latest treatise on these methods viz. From PRA to PLA and Pluralism: Practice and Theory by Robert Chambers (July 2007) is available at:

http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/bookshop/wp/wp286.pdf 

News: The Interagency Youth Working Group launched a new Web site - Resources on Youth Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS. The site includes: guidance on key program areas and best practices, publications grouped by organizations with major youth resources, an easily searchable database of more than 900 recent resources, research tools, training materials, and web sites for youth. This site hosted by INFO with content managed by Family Health International is available at www.youthwg.org.

Events: A technical meeting on Scaling up Family Planning and Maternal Health best practices in Asia and the Near East will be held at Bangkok from 3 to 8 September 2007. This USAID funded meeting will be open to organisations from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. For details visit: http://www.esdproj.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Conf_ANE_Registration

Please send your feedback/information etc. to access@ippfsar.org

IPPF SARO Team