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Pakistan
Maternal and Child Health
The average age of marriage for women was 19.8 between 1980 and
1990, and, with the rate of contraception use reaching only 12
percent in 1992, many delivered their first child about one year
later. Thus, nearly half of Pakistani women have at least one
child before they complete their twentieth year. In 1988-90 only
70 percent of pregnant women received any prenatal care; the same
proportion of births were attended by health workers. A study
covering the years 1975 to 1990 found that 57 percent of pregnant
women were anemic (1975 to 1990) and that many suffered from vitamin
deficiencies. In 1988 some 600 of every 100,000 deliveries resulted
in the death of the mother. Among women who die between ages fifteen
and forty-five, a significant portion of deaths are related to
childbearing.
The inadequate health care and the malnutrition suffered by women
are reflected in infant and child health statistics. About 30
percent of babies born between 1985 and 1990 were of low birth
weight. During 1992 ninety-nine of every 1,000 infants died in
their first year of life. Mothers breast-feed for a median of
twenty months, according to a 1986-90 survey, but generally withhold
necessary supplementary foods until weaning. In 1990 approximately
42 percent of children under five years of age were underweight.
In 1992 there were 3.7 million malnourished children, and 652,000
died. Poor nutrition contributes significantly to childhood morbidity
and mortality.
Progress has been made despite these rather dismal data. The
infant mortality rate dropped from 163 per 1,000 live births in
1960 to ninety-nine per 1,000 in 1992. Immunization has also expanded
rapidly in the recent past; 81 percent of infants had received
the recommended vaccines in 1992. A network of immunizations clinics--virtually
free in most places--exists in urban areas and ensures that health
workers are notified of a child's birth. Word of mouth and media
attention, coupled with rural health clinics, seem to be responsible
for the rapid increase in immunization rates in rural areas. By
1992 about 85 percent of the population had access to oral rehydration
salts, and oral rehydration therapy was expected to lower the
child mortality.
Data as of April 1994
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