Support services for pregnant women, newborn babies and their families

“Being compassionate” is our reaching out programme for pregnant women and their families who are struggling. With your help, we can protect children from harm, abuse and neglect from birth.

In Pakistan, the infant mortality rate is extremely high. Lack of resources, appropriate health care and immediate medical support are a few factors, amongst many, contributing to the risks not only to babies but also to mothers. Many pregnant women and their unborn babies continue to face life-threatening situations due to the lack of medical care and support. These issues put children in danger and create vulnerability for many young lives.

It is not always easy for some families to give their children the best possible start in life. Some households might be experiencing high-risk situations such as extreme poverty, domestic violence, drugs, and other substance misuses, unemployment, financial difficulties, limited resources, immigration issues, gender inequalities, mental health issues, or psychological trauma. Every household has a different story that requires consideration.

These issues are some of the most significant factors that create risks of child abuse, neglect and harm. Therefore, at SCYP we aim to help pregnant women and their families who are going through tough times, so they can give a positive future to their children. We aim to achieve this by working in partnership with local services while supporting vulnerable persons before, during and after a baby is born.

Through this programme, we aim to:

• build partnerships with local public/private hospitals, maternity and health centres and set-up helpdesks at these centres for supporting families in immediate needs
• engage with local communities and health centres for enhancing existing structures and capacities. 
• arrange resources for saving newborn babies, infants and mothers’ lives

We aim to make sustainable and systemic changes which are possible only by engaging with the community and enhancing the capacities of existing systems. We aim to support pregnant women and their families in the most vulnerable conditions by working with the existing medical set-ups and training the relevant staff to be compassionate, respectful and attentive to recognise needs, signs of abuse, harm and neglect. We will run training programmes to support and educate families on how to stay safe and give their babies a healthy and hopeful start. With the right support, we can make a difference. We cannot do this alone but we can do this with your help.