$3.1m child health programme to be launched in Fata | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

$3.1m child health programme to be launched in Fata

Pakistan Press Foundation

FAISALABAD: The government will launch a programme for promoting child health in selected areas of Fata, with the total estimated cost $3.1 million, with the financial assistance of World Bank.

According to an update project report, selection of child health services will be offered to families with children aged 0-24 months in four pilot OSSs, which comes to around 40,000 families. The selected services include child health awareness and counselling, screening of children for malnutrition using growth monitoring, immunization services, and referral of complicated cases.

Registration of families with children aged 0 to 2 years and periodic attendance of awareness sessions at OSS will be accompanied by a Child Wellness Grant (CWG). The cash grant aims to compensate for the opportunity costs of participating in the health awareness and contingent upon families receiving, counselling sessions and bringing children to health facilities for regular check-ups.

A cash grant of Rs 7,500 is being proposed to be provided in three installments for promoting positive health seeking behaviour of families for their children.

Business Recorder