ڈینگی مکاؤ مہم میں معاشرے کا کردار
ڈینگی بخار ہے جو چند ماہ سے پاکستان کے عوام کے لیے خوف کی علامت بنا ہوا ہے۔ یہ بخار 1775 میں افریقہ، شمالی امریکہ اور ایشیاء میں پراسرار طور پر نمودار ہوا، اس بخار کا سبب مادہ مچھر ہوتی ہے جو کاٹتی ہے تو بخار ہو جاتاہے۔ اس بخار کے پیراسائیٹس کو پلازموڈیم کہتے ہیں۔ یہ مادہ مچھر ایک اعلیٰ ترین نسل سے منسوب کی جاتی ہے جو گندے پانی وغیرہ کو پسندنہیں کرتی بلکہ خوشنما سرسبز پھولوں ، پھلوں والے پودوں اور درختوں پرڈیرہ جماتی ہے۔
ڈینگی بخار ایک مرض ہے، جس طرح دیگر امراض سے انسان کو واسطہ پڑتا ہے اسی طرح یہ مرض بھی اپنے خونخوار پنجوں میں جکڑنے کی بھر پور کوشش کرتا ہے۔ لیکن کوئی مرض ایسا نہیں ہے کہ جس کا علاج موجود نہ ہو۔ حدیث نبوی صلی اللہ علیہ و آلہٖ وسلمہے کہ کوئی مرض ایسانہیں ہے جس کا علاج نہ ہو، یعنی تمام مرض علاج سے ختم ہوجاتے ہیں۔ جب ایک ذی شعور انسان اس قسم کے حوالہ جات اپنے دماغ کے آنگن میں رکھتا ہے تو وہ ان عوارضات سے کبھی متاثر نہیں ہوتا وہ علاج کرتا ہے اور مسلمان ہونے کے ناطے بالخصوص اور انسان ہونے کے ناطے بالعموم شفاء من جانب اللہ کا تصور چاہتا ہے۔ اپنے اس اعتقاد کی بدولت کہ موت کا ایک دن مقرر ہے وہ اس بخار کے خوف کو اپنے نہاںخانۂ دل میں کوئی جگہ نہیں دیتا۔ اس بخار کے خاتمے میں اس قسم کے اعتقادات اور تصورات بڑی اہمیت کے حامل گردانے جاتے ہیں۔ اور یوں نفسیاتی طور پر اس سے متاثر مریض صحت یاب ہونا شروع ہو جا تا ہے۔
ڈینگی بخار کے خاتمے کے لیے معاشرتی طور پر ایک اہم رول ادا کرنے کی ضرورت ہے۔ واعظ ممبر رسول صلی...
Mothers-in-law play an integral role in promoting maternal and child health practices in rural Pakistan. This study discusses the design, implementation, and evaluation of a 25- episode radio drama featuring the mother-in-law as the primary influencer for maternal and child health practices. The radio drama was designed after an extensive pre-drama audience research comprising of 10 focus groups, and 14 in-depth interviews in Bagh and Mansehra. Post-drama evaluation comprised two focus groups in the target areas. The endline evaluation found that viewership of the drama improved communication between people of all age groups and social roles without offending their dignity, intelligence, and sense of tradition. Additionally, the findings showed that the audience demonstrated improvement in knowledge about danger signs for mother and child, as well as positive attitudes to seeking timely service from a trained healthcare provider. The study makes a contribution to existing health communication campaigns by introducing a culture-centric approach, through radio dramas, to influence mothers-inlaw and consequently impact maternal and child health practices.
Irrigation is one of the most important ingredients of the Green Revolution technology, which took place in early 70’s. With out irrigation water, desirable results, of the new agricultural technology cannot be achieved. NWFP is mainly a mountainous region and its agriculture is characterized by low yield per unit and poor application of required inputs. About 54% of the total cultivated land still depends on rainfall which is scantly. Keeping in view the wide scope and importance of irrigation for enhancing agricultural output the present study was initiated. The study aims to analyze the existing situation of tube well irrigation and to pinpoint the main causes of slow diffusion of tube well technology in NWFP. Moreover, an attempt was also made to examine the role of extension agent in the adoption and diffusion of tube well technology. This study was based on primary as well as secondary data. The universe of the study consisted of the whole NWFP. Multistage sampling method was used to select a required sample, from four districts randomly selected. The number of respondents interviewed from district Charsada were 92, from DIK 70, from Malakand 68, and 61 respondents from district Nowshera, hence the total sample size was 291. The selected respondents were grouped into three categories namely small (146), medium (81) and large (64). The average size of land holding was 8 acres for small, 16 for medium and 92 acres for large farmers. Fragmentation seriously constrained tube well installation in the study area. The rate of tube well installation was less than 10 per year on average, thus there is clear justification and wide scope for future expansion if tube wells in the study area. Tube well irrigation not only enhances agricultural productivity, but socio-economic condition of the farmers was also improved. The role of government and NGO’s remained insignificant, because 288 respondents installed tube wells by themselves. The soil of the study area was found suitable for tube well installation. Moreover, water table was cost effective for the respondents in the study area. The discharge capacity of tube wells in the study area ranged from 2” to 4”. Majority of the respondents (96%) did not test the quality of water and soil. The overwhelming majority of the respondents (266) could not get loan. Extension services were heavily criticized and their role in the adoption and diffusion was negligible. The linkages among farmers, extension workers, and research institutes remained weak and poor. Small farmers were more prone to operational problems. The main operational problems were lack of spare parts, shortage of power, lack of skilled labour, and frequent load shedding of electricity. Almost all the sample respondents reported inadequate and untimely availability of inputs. The main factors responsible for late adoption and slow diffusion of tube well technology are; size of land holding, poor financial condition, lack of technical know how, topography, lack of power supply (electricity/diesel), inefficient and ineffective extension staff, imperfect market and policy negligence of the government. As a policy matter farmers (particularly small farmers) need to be encouraged to install tube wells, through the provision of soft loans and technical assistance.