role of Punjab rural support programme in providing health facilities to rural women; a case study of district Faisalabad

ABSTRACT

Despite the fact that women account for more than half of the total world population, they are still not considered equal to men. The health of rural women in Pakistan is very poor because of the lack of health services and competent health workers. Besides government health centres, hospitals and many Non-Governmental Organizations [NGOs] are also working in the rural areas for providing social services to rural women. Punjab Rural Support Programme is also working for socio-economic empowerment of rural women. PRSP began to provide health facilities to the poor people in villages through Basic Health Units [BHUs]. To analyze the role of PRSP in providing health facilities to women in rural area. A multistage simple random sampling technique was used for the study. District Faisalabad. The population for the study consisted of rural women only who were members of the Community Organizations [COs] of PRSP. Out of the eight towns of district Faisalabad, four towns which cover rural areas [Samundri, Iqbal town, Jaranwala, and Chak Jhumra] were selected. Four field units of PRSP are working in these four towns i.e. Salarwala in Chak Jhumra, Satiana in Jaranwala, Khidarwala in Samundri, and Dijkot in Iqbal Town. These field units had 214, 203, 170 and 238 female COs, respectively. A sample of 10% COs was selected from each field unit randomly. Thus the total selected COs were 82. Five members from each CO were selected at random. In this way the total sample size for the study was 410 respondents. A reliable and validated data collection instrument consisting of open and close ended questions was used. The data were analyzed using SPSS. It was concluded that respondents were satisfied with certain facilities like availability of female doctors in BHUs, availability of medicines and availability of competent and qualified paramedics. Provision of basic tests [blood, sugar, pregnancy and haemoglobin etc.] was very weak area which needed much improvement. It was also concluded that respondents were satisfied with the behaviour of staff at BHUs. However, provision of basic medical equipment needed attention from the authorities