PMA holds women empowerment conference in Karachi

Karachi: PMA, Tehrik-e-Niswan, APWA and AEIRC are jointly organizing the First International Women Conference in Karachi to highlight the Medical, Social, Cultural and Women Right issues in Pakistan.

According to a statement released on this occasion; Pakistani women are facing serious health issues related to Breast, Ovarian, Cervical and Uterine Cancer. A great number of rural women are having breast cancer every year and are not able to get treatment at early stage, while it is curable. Young women should not die because of breast cancer and should not suffer because of lack of knowledge. We should create awareness regarding this lethal disease and make our society safe for them.

It is sad to know that women with Ovarian Cancer are contacting doctors when disease is already at an advanced stage. There is no system in our health centers for screening of various cancers in high risk population. A great number of women are suffering and dying because of increasing incidence of Hepatitis-C. It is noticeable that despite the presence of vaccine against Cervical Cancer majority of our girls are not vaccinated against this disease. In developed countries the incidence of Cervical Cancer is decreasing drastically. Soon Cervical Cancer will disappear in these countries. We must make our country a Cervical Cancer free country.

We are extremely concerned about organized violence against women and failure of government to protect them. Victims of violence have no place to go and the judicial system has failed to provide justice to them. In this three-day conference we will highlight these issues related to women health and their status in society.

We believe that the government and political parties are not serious about women issues, their right to life and health. We think that without the help of Civil Society and Community, it is not possible to provide equal rights to women. It is our duty to help our women who need help and justice.

The organizing Committee of the conference demanded that:

1. All girl children should get compulsory pre-primary education in Schools.


2. All women should have a right to have basic and emergency Obstetrical care in the country and no women should die during child birth.


3. All tertiary government hospitals should provide treatment of cancer to poor women living in rural areas and city slums.


4. Free Vaccination against Hepatitis-B and Cervical Cancer should be given to all young girls in Pakistan.


5. Government and Judiciary should protect all victims of sexual violence, and the system should respect them and they should be able to rehabilitate themselves in the community.


6. The women should be protected from honor killing, Vatta Satta, Vani and other anti-women traditions.


7. All women should have equal opportunities in Civil Service and Judiciary.


8. All Education Institute should be women friendly and nobody should be allowed to violate their dignity or harm them.

We hope that with this kind of conference we will be able to create awareness regarding women and their miserable state in our society. The conference will be led by the renowned gynecologist of Pakistan and the President of PNFWH - Dr. Shershah Syed, General Secretary of PMA Karachi - Dr. Qazi Wasiq, Ms. Sadaf Hameed of AEIRC and Ms. Sheema Kirmani of Tehrik-e-Niswan.