In a quiet delivery room in Punjab, Pakistan, Dr. Rubina&nbsp;told us a story we won’t forget. A woman was hemorrhaging after birth, her pulse racing at 145 beats per minute. In minutes, her condition would become irreversible. With calm precision, a colleague followed simple steps using the E-Motive method. Within minutes, the bleeding stopped, her pulse dropped to 130, and the mother survived.This story captures the reality we saw again and again in Pakistan: simple, cost-effective tools, often designed with remarkable ingenuity and delivered with bold leadership by local health workers, are saving lives. But these successes exist alongside deep systemic challenges, and the future of maternal and newborn health in Pakistan will depend on whether the country can bridge that gap.

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<h3> </h3><h3>﻿The Uneven Landscape of Maternal and Newborn Health in Pakistan</h3> Pakistan has made progress. Maternal mortality has halved since 2006, and newborn deaths have dropped by 30%. But every day, 27 mothers and 675 newborns still die—mostly from preventable causes such as postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), sepsis, eclampsia, and complications from preterm birth. Both opportunity and complexity lies in Pakistan’s devolved health system. Since 2011, health has been a provincial responsibility, which means Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan each manage their own policies, financing, and health service delivery systems. This devolution has allowed some provinces to innovate, and has enabled tailored solutions that respond to specific needs, instead of a one-size-fits-all. And yet, within each province, too often, maternal and newborn health programming is fragmented and donor driven. Excellent initiatives operate in isolation without being scaled or integrated into a national Pakistan-led framework.

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<h3> </h3><h3>Two Opportunities Pakistan Cannot Afford to Miss</h3> 1. Building a Movement to Unite and Scale Proven Solutions Across Pakistan, there are outstanding examples of locally driven efforts. Vital Pakistan Trust is demonstrating how community-based interventions in combination with quality facility services, can dramatically reduce newborn mortality in Sindh. Behbud has built a network of women-led clinics delivering respectful maternity care in low-income neighborhoods. Help Pakistan (supported by Penny Appeal) is reaching marginalized families with lifesaving services through Lady Health Workers. Islamic Relief is integrating maternal health into broader humanitarian programs, ensuring mothers in disaster-prone and conflict-affected areas receive care.Yet these efforts remain fragmented. Pakistan needs a national movement that unites these efforts to work together to&nbsp;scale a comprehensive, integrated package of health services and medicines to mothers who need this most.2. Harnessing the Power of Local Philanthropy through Zakat Pakistan is one of the most generous countries in the world when it comes to charitable giving, with billions distributed annually through Zakat and other faith-inspired contributions. If even a fraction of these funds were directed to maternal and newborn health, it could transform the sector, reducing reliance on slow, top-down aid and empowering communities to fund the solutions they know will work. By recognizing this generosity and creating clear, trusted channels for giving, such as Every Pregnancy’s Zakat-approved programs, we can foster local ownership, strengthen accountability, and build sustainable financing for maternal and newborn health.

<h3> </h3><h3>The Path Ahead</h3> The solutions exist. The leadership is there. The generosity of the Pakistani people is unmatched. What’s missing is coordinated action, shared measurement, and sustainable investment.If we succeed, the next time a mother in Pakistan faces those ten critical minutes after birth, the outcome will not depend on where she lives or which facility she reaches, it will depend on a system ready to save her life.While we are working together with partners in Pakistan to foster a movement that will make this vision a reality. You can be part of it. By donating through our <a href="https://everypregnancy.org/pakistan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(95, 33, 16); font-size: 16px;">Pakistan giving page</a>,&nbsp;you will help equip clinics, train health workers, and ensure every pregnancy is safe.

By Dr. Sidrah Nausheen, Isra Chaker and Marleen Vellekoop

"We Had A Few Minutes to Save a Life”: What Pakistan’s Health Leaders Taught Us About Maternal Survival

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