AGAHE

"Every morning when I see my baby, I pray for prosperity of projects like AGAHE through USAID funded TACMIL Health Project, so that they can continue to support people and save more lives of children and mothers.Shahida Bibi after her safe delivery."

Haji Muhammad Ramzan, living in Basti Qureshi Wala, Union Council (UC) Khakhi like most of the other people of his village was relatively inflexible to behavioral changes. Cultural norms and a low literacy level are the two major contributing factors to this rigid behavior. People in this district believe that since child birth is a natural process, there is no special need for antenatal checkups and tetanus vaccination of the pregnant women; rather they incorrectly perceive this vaccination to be a method of birth spacing.

Haji Muhammad's son, husband of Shahida Bibi, was abroad to earn bread and butter for his family while Shahida lived with her in laws. She was put in a difficult situation when she conceived her second baby. Her first baby could not survive due to respiratory problems. She was scared the second time and insisted that she should be taken to a doctor for checkup and treatment. Despite her constant pleading, her father in law was not convinced as he believed that women since generations have had babies at home with traditional birth attendants and this was a routine and normal process. Shahida had to helplessly depend on her parents-in-law throughout her gestation period.

With support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), TACMIL Health Project is partnering with AGAHE (Association for Gender Awareness and Human Empowerment) for providing inputs to strengthen the health system of Pakistan. With the help of TACMIL Health Project, AGAHE has been organizing health sessions in the community for changing their behaviors and to mobilize them for seeking health care services to generate their demand. It also advocates with the decision makers for provision of these services from the supply side. A similar kind of awareness session was conducted by AGAHE in Basti Qureshi Wala. During the session, participants were oriented about the importance of antenatal checkups and vaccination for tetanus; health, hygiene and nutrition of the pregnant women, danger signs and related precautionary measures during the pregnancy.

"Haji Muhammad Ramzan with his grandson."

It took a great deal of counseling and discussions to persuade and mobilize the people of Basti Qureshi Wala to attend these sessions. Haji Muhammad also attended one of the sessions where he gained scores of knowledge about the issues and guidelines about what to do for taking care of women during pregnancy. After becoming cognizant of the issues and their solutions, he took care of his daughter in law, Shahida during her pregnancy on the same guidelines. Shahida had a history of child death in her last pregnancy and this time again she was having urination problem. He took his daughter in law to the hospital for antenatal checkup during which the lady doctor found out that the baby was mal positioned, hence the delivery could not be managed at home. On the advice of the lady doctor, Shahida was taken to the hospital for delivery on May 6th 2009, and she delivered a baby boy after two hours of supervision.

Haji Muhammad Ramzan, now believes that it was because of the awareness session that he adopted this health care seeking behavior which would not have been possible otherwise. He said that after sharing his experience with other community members, he has found out that they are also showing a changed behavior and getting their women screened through the camp set-up by Community Health Activists (CHAs) working voluntarily to help their community members, following the guidelines given by AGAHE. Haji Muhammad said that the vaccinator visits their area regularly and the women now wait for him to complete their tetanus vaccinations. Both Haji Muhammad and Shahida are thankful to the USAID for their support in bringing changes to the way people think resulting in saving lives.