SYSTEM ANALYSIS OF MODERN MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH CARE PRACTICES DURING PREGNANCY

This paper is an investigation of maternal health practices in Jampur, Punjab, Pakistan using anthropological qualitative methods. With the phenomena of globalization, the revolution of Medical Sciences has also reached right up to the developing countries like Pakistan, however there are some issues. The study offers insights into the historical changes in maternal health practices and the increasing awareness of children’s developmental milestones. It emphasizes the underprivileged status of peasants and describes the differences in the medical staff focus on city versus rural clients. In this paper, socio-cultural determinants relevant for women’s pregnancy and child rearing practices in Jampur are explored. People tended a decade ago to be unaware of issues concerning maternal health and regarded parental investment into child development as unnecessary as it was a natural event. Though this understanding has improved owing to diverse projects, social networking, and internet, absence of classroom teaching impedes the cause. Money hungry ventures in the development sector and the pharmaceutical capsule industry fleece struggling individuals for profit while it is the center cities that impoverish the villages through budget centers marginalizing them. This paper draws attention to such practices and their consequences with child and maternal health practices in perspective.