USAID launches $60M child spacing program

Karachi—The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched today the Sindh component of its five-year, $60 million nationwide program on child spacing. The program is called ‘Family Advancement for Life and Health’ (FALAH). “The 2007 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey Preliminary Report indicates that almost 50 percent of families who have one child want to wait for two or more years before having the next child,” said Ms. Kay Anske, Consul General, U.S. Consulate in Karachi. “FALAH will help them with child spacing.” Implemented by a consortium of organizations led by the Population Council, a US-based research organization, FALAH focuses on bringing about a major shift in the programmatic approach to family planning - moving from child limiting to child spacing. Incorporation of child spacing into health programs will help reduce the high levels of maternal and infant illness and deaths that continue to plague Pakistan. Operating in 20 districts nationwide, the Sindh component of FALAH includes six districts: Sanghar, Sukkur, Thatta, Ghotki, and Larkana.

—Agencies