“Linking Brick Kiln Women Workers with Formal Health Care System”(LBKW&H)
implemented by Development Impact Solutions (Pvt) Ltd - (DIS)
The Development Impact Solutions (DIS) is implementing the “Linking Brick Kiln Women Workers with Formal Health Care System” (LBKW&H) of Health & Nutrition Innovation Fund (HANIF), managed by Palladium and funded by the Department for International Development (DIFD).
The aim of this initiative is to create awareness among brick kiln women workers regarding benefits of seeking formal medical services rather than relying on traditional healing techniques and approaching quakes. The program through extensive social mobilization changing health-seeking behaviour of women BK workers/families and by establishing Primary Health Care Satellite at the selected Brick Kiln Cluster linking BHU/RHC with marginalized community of Brick kiln workers.
With the support of District Health Authorities, DIS has established four Primary Health Care Satellites (PHCS) in Lahore and Rawalpindi to offer free health services to brick kiln women workers and their families. Brick Kiln Owners Association of Pakistan (BKOAP) provides free building for the establishment of PHCS. The PHCS will both create health awareness among brick kiln women workers and also cater to their basic health care needs. The DIS will carry out advocacy with the Punjab Health Department to scale-up this initiative
Under the scale-up phase, a total of 1652 adults patients (52% women), and 889 Child patients (52% girls) have directly benefited, and 150 patients (58% females) have been referred to the nearby by BHU/RHC till December 2017
Role of PSPU
PSPU has closely monitored and guided the pilot phase of the innovation and appreciated the results achieved at one PHCS cluster. The Project Steering Committee, headed by the PSPU deliberated and suggested to replicate the PHCS in four clusters in two districts Lahore and Rawalpindi to gauge if this innovation could still produce similar excellent results to change health seeking behaviour of brick kiln women workers. The data generated from the four clusters would be helpful for the Department to consider adoption of the PHCS model.
The DIS is proposing the scale up of the innovation, with an overall objective of improving health seek behaviour of women brick kiln workers through the provision of quality primary healthcare, mother and child healthcare including family planning services with institutionalized referral services and linkages with the public sector facilities like Basic Health Units (BHUs) and Rural Health Centre (RHC).
BKOAP is also supporting the program to provide functional buildings for the establishment of PHCS, and pledge that from last quarter of the project the BKOAP will contribute 25% cost of PHCS running (health professionals remunerations and medicine). BKOAP has also pledged that it will fully take over the functioning of the four PHCS and also sustain these, in case the Punjab Health Department requires more time to initiate its development scheme. This also demonstrated the BKOAP’s ownership of the PHCS innovation and willingness to sustain the PHCS.
The main set of basic services and referrals to be provided, based upon the established healthcare service delivery points and developed linkages with the BHUs and RHC, are as follows:
Primary Healthcare services
Vaccination services through linkages with the local BHUs
Mother and Child Healthcare services including family planning
Referral Linkages with availability of transport for obstetric care
Ensuring required and optimal number of antenatal visits of pregnant women
Nutrition services through the available Nutrition services at the BHU and RHC
Health and hygiene services through the outreach services of the DIS outreach team, and the lady health workers (LHWs) based at the local BHU
Trained outreach team and basic Hygiene
DIS with the PSPU will organize technical sessions / advocacy workshops with the following four key stakeholders to promote the innovation of PHCS and its adoption within the government programme.
Parliamentarians of the Punjab Assembly (Health Committee). During these meetings four chairmen from the UCs in target clusters will also be invited to take part,
senior government officials from Punjab Health, IRMNCH, P&D, Labour, and Finance departments,
brick kiln employers from other districts of Punjab, and
