In order to achieve the goal, the district has launched a campaign to promote institutional delivery, claims the District Health Office (DHO), Baitadi. Earlier, Baitadi district was declared the first fully immunized district in the far-west and the ninth across the country.
Baitadi aims to earn the distinction of being the complete institutional delivery district within the next two fiscal years.As more than half of deliveries take place at home in Baitadi district, the DHO has come up with the campaign to promote institutional delivery for the safety of mothers and babies.
As part of the campaign, DHO has been providing institutional delivery services from 91 birthing centers across the district. However, according to DHO chief Ganaraj Awasthi, the district needs at least 160 birthing centers.
He informed that the DHO will first intensify its campaign at the ward level, then expand it to the VDCs, and finally cover the entire district.
The pregnant women in the district do not have easy access to birthing center due to geographical difficulties. As a result, many of them are forced to walk at least four to five hours to reach the nearest birthing centers.
A local body can seek complete institutional delivery status only after it meets certain criteria: 95 percent deliveries must take place at health institutions; hundred percent immunization; four pregnancy check-ups before delivery; taking of iron supplements and hook-worm tablets by pregnant women; proper counseling on nutritious food for pregnant women; and zero home births within a fiscal year, said Information Officer at DHO Baitadi, Bhuwan Prasad Joshi.
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