The public sector has run multiple integrated and specialised maternal and neonatal health (MNH) programmes to reduce high mortality rates.

“There are three cadres of female community-based providers, all trained in women’s, adolescent and child health,” says Dr Mariyam Sarfraz, dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the Islamabad-based Health Services Academy (HSA). She adds that Lady Health Visitors (LHVs) and Female Welfare Workers (FWWs) receive similar two-year post-matric training in maternal and child health, primary care and family planning, and both are licensed in midwifery.

Community Midwives (CMWs), introduced in 2007 under the Pakistan National Maternal and Child Health Programme,........

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