What is PAIMAN ?

The Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN) is a five-year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). PAIMAN works with the Government of Pakistan on the implementation of the full spectrum of interventions necessary to address mother and newborn health, focusing on ten districts throughout Pakistan. The PAIMAN consortium is lead by JSI Research and Training, a US-based public health organization, and is comprised of a number of Pakistani and international organizations, including the Aga Khan Foundation, Contech, Greenstar, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, PAVHNA, The Population Council, and Save the Children USA. In addition, the National Committee for Maternal Health (NCMH) and Social Sector Consultants (SOSEC), as well as Mercy Corps, an international NGO, assist in specific areas of the program. The members of the PAIMAN partnership and its collaborating organizations have extensive experience in implementing maternal and newborn care and health system projects in Pakistan and in other countries around the world.

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• Reduced neonatal mortality rate
• Increased proportion of live births assisted by SBA

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PAIMAN uses the "Pathway to Care and Survival" continuum of care to respond to the needs of mothers and newborns with life-saving and supportive care (see figure 1). Under the devolved system in Pakistan, Provincial Departments of Health provide Safe Motherhood and Newborn Care services through a four-tiered system: community-based activities through lady health workers (LHWs) and traditional birth attendants, (TBAs); primary health care (PHC) facilities, such as mother child health centers (MCHCs), basic health centers (BHUs), and rural health centers (RHCs); first-referral facilities such as THQ and DHQ hospitals; and tertiary care facilities. PAIMAN works with all these tiers to strengthen their capacity and to ensure wider access to quality services through skilled attendance at all levels, including the community.  

To implement this strategic framework, PAIMAN follows these guiding principles:
 

• Involve all relevant stakeholders: PAIMAN includes communities, the GOP, the private sector, and donors, in order to achieve its objectives. Without the involvement and commitment of these key stakeholders, PAIMAN could not succeed.
• Build integrated health systems: PAIMAN is promoting integration of interventions– at the district, tehsil, and health facility levels, as well as in the communities– that save time and resources for both providers and recipients, while increasing quality of care – and thus– client satisfaction.
• Scale-up activities: PAIMAN is developing a set of interventions that can be scaled-up to expand primary maternal and neonatal health (PMNH) activities in all ten districts. Once proven successful, these interventions can be used, in collaboration with other donors and local partners, to make program benefits available to the whole population of Pakistan.
• Address gender inequalities: PAIMAN promotes women's leadership in community-based activities and the realm of health care.
• Build on lessons learned: PAIMAN employs research and lessons learned from other successful MNH projects in China, Honduras, Sri Lanka, and particularly from other Muslim countries including Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia and Morocco to help inform program activities. When interventions and activities meet client needs in similar settings, PAIMAN need not reinvent them.
• Develop locally sustainable and replicable interventions and infrastructure. A sustainable health program in the Pakistani context depends upon the capacity of providers and managers to deliver quality services. PAIMAN works to create an educated and empowered clientele that seeks quality health services in an environment where there is a strong link between providers and communities.

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