LAHORE - Fatima Memorial Hospital (FMH) arranged a national dissemination seminar on the finding of the research project titled “Studying the knowledge, beliefs and practices of unmarried and married adolescent girls with respect to nutrition and on the sources of nutrition information that adolescents have access to and use” at a local hotel on Monday.
The research project was granted to FMH by Research and Advocacy Fund (RAF) and implemented through FMH’s technical arm NurCenter for Research and Policy (NCRP). It is hoped that this research will make a convincing case for prioritising and strengthening nutritional aspects of health and other public programs through the evidence produced.
The project has been undertaken at a time when the provincial programs are working on their nutritional strategies. The national dissemination seminar served as a forum to review the research findings and challenges confronting Pakistan in improving the nutritional status of adolescent girls.
Minister for Population Welfare Punjab Begum Zakiya Shahnawaz said that there was a need to unite on one platform for improving the diet of adolescent girls. She said that legislation would soon be made to check underage marriage.
MNA Pervaiz Malik lauded the efforts of FMH and said,’ Such evidence coming forth from private sector is of utmost significance to the government in designing future programs, rectifying the current programs and optimizing their efforts, targeting the marginalized’. President Nur Foundation and Chairperson Executive Committee FMH Shahima Rehman said, “I am confident that the findings presented today have reached the right ears, and together we will be able to make focused and defined efforts towards improvement of social, financial and nutritional status of adolescent girls in Pakistan’.
Parliamentary Secretary for Women Development Dr Rashida Yaqub, Secretary Law and Parliamentary Affairs Syed Abdul Hassan Najmi, Rector National School Public Policy Ismail Qureshi, Principal FMH College of Medicine Prof Humayun Maqsood, Principal FMH College of Dentistry Prof Yaqoob Baig Mirza, Vice Chairman, Executive Committee FMH Dr Haroon Ihsan, Founding Director and Technical Advisor, NUR Foundation Maha Rehman, academicians, practitioners, advocators, legislators, development partners and public health professionals attended the seminar.
Meanwhile, Punjab Secretary Health Dr Ijaz Munir has directed the officers to monitor working of their wings.
Chairing an introductory meeting of the officers of Health Department at Civil Secretariat on Monday, he directed preparation of complete human resource data base for improving official working.
Special Secretary Health Farasat Iqbal, Additional Secretary Development Ghulam Farid, Additional Secretary (Admn) Khawar Kamal, Deputy Secretaries Raja Mansoor, Syeda Malaika, Dr Shoaib, Dr Mohsin, Dr Nasir Shakir and other officers attended the meeting. Dr Ijaz Munir said that the doors of his office were open for everyone and any person could meet him for the solution of his problem.
MEDICAL CAMP: Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians arranged a medical camp in Samanabad on Monday to provide free diagnosis and treatment facilities to diabetes patients. Dr Sajjad Malik, Dr Ahmed Naveed Bhatti and Dr Naheed Nadeem checked diabetes patients and provided free medicine.
Gift: Akhuwat distributed gifts among children receiving treatment at Punjab Institute of Cardiology. Under make a dream project, Akhuwat is arranging such events to fulfill one wish of children and give hope that they would recover and live a healthy life after treatment. Led by Dr Anam Awan, students of Services Institute of Medical Sciences spent time with under treatment children and gave them gifts according to their own wish.