Shania Shayal Prasad 
[Source: USA Today]
The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, is in the process of formulating a comprehensive maternal and childcare health policy for Fiji.
An analysis conducted this year indicates that existing MOH policies and guidelines are fragmented and incomplete.
Family Health Unit Head Dr. Rachel Devi says the new policy will be implemented across all hospitals, strengthening the emergency health response.
Dr. Devi reveals that while there have been a few policies, these were siloed.
“For example, immunization is a policy; we got the breastfeeding hospital initiative policy as well, and now we have the family planning policy, but nothing is overarching defining the scope of MCH.”
Dr. Devi also highlights that the new policy aims to fill in the existing gaps in the MCH.
“A family simply works in MCH, and only the child immunization, weight, height, and any other issues are done and gone, but the mothers are not looked at, and probably the fathers missed their opportunities as well.”
Dr. Devi says a lot more focus will also be put on strengthening learning and teaching opportunities for nurses and doctors in early childhood development.
