USE OF MEDICAL-PARAMEDICAL PERSONNEL AND TRADITIONAL MIDWIVES IN THE PAKISTAN FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAM.

In order to achieve its target of reducing the birth rate from 50 to 40 per thousand in five years, the Pakistan Family Planning Program selected the IUCD as the cheapest contraceptive method available offering greatest promise for prolonged protection through a single act. Since rural Pakistani women will not accept lUCD insertion from male doctors, the scarcity of female physicians necessitated the training of paramedical personnel for the IUCD program. About 600 LHVs (Lady Health Visitors)----MCH workers with 27 months training-have been given an additional course in family planning. Because of acute person net deficiency in East Pakistan, a new cadre of LFPVS (Lady Family Planning Visitors) was given a year's training emphasizing instruction in selection of cases and insertion of IUCD. Six mouths later, in November, 1966, LFPV training was also begun in West Pakistan. To date, 465 LFPVs have been graduated and 250 more are in training. These paramedicals, who are proving effective workers at the village level, are now doing 70-80 percent of IUCD insertions. (More than 500,000 insertions were reported last year by paramedical personnel). Supervision is provided by technical officers (MBBS doctors) at the district level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]