The Lady Health Workers (LHWs) provide family planning, pre-natal and neo-natal care, immunisation services, and other necessary child and women health services in the community. They are Community Health Workers (CHWs).
ASLHWEU
Overview
The National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Healthcare, popularly known as the “Lady Health Workers, started in 1994, with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), with a staff of 30,000, which has risen over the years to 125,000 deployed in all districts across the country; 22,576 are in Sindh province. The programme has revitalised the primary healthcare system in the country. And perhaps more important, it has helped to overcome the gendered division of public and private space which was a major obstacle in women’s access to basic services such as education and employment opportunities, especially in rural areas of Pakistan. The programme is a major employer in the non-agricultural formal sector in rural areas. Where LHWs are active, maternal and infant mortality rates are lower.