Perinatal And Newborn Care In South Asia: Priorities For Action

The poor state of perinatal and newborn health in Pakistan has been of great concern to successive governments and development agencies in geenral. Despire enormous investments in programs and interventions, the impact on important mortality and morbidity indicators is both variable and slow. In order to move forward it is imperative to undertand the various dimensions and determinants of maternal and child health in Pakistan, their erelationship with family planning as well as other factors such as macroeconomic issues, poverty and health systems performance. Although there is no paucity of solic research work in this area, much of the information is disparate and not readily available for informed policy making. This book is the compilation of several invited papers and deliberations of recent meetings that brought together key national and international experts for evaluating factors that relate to perinatal health, newborn care of relevance to South Asia and maternal and fetal malnutrition. It contains a wealth of information on many areas of importance in relation to perinatal health in South Asia. The book not only provides a situational analysis but also review the programs and make recommendations for action and research. All chapters have been written by global and regional experts in the field and cover a wide range of subjects. It is our hope that this publication will be widely cited and referred to as a reference source of information as a juncture when South Asia is set to embark upon a major program to improve its maternal and newborn health indicators.