BEHIND THE MASK: Pakistan’s First On-line Interactive Documentary on Woman Well being Employees.
Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) Public Companies Worldwide (PSI) broadcasts the launch of Pakistan’s first on-line interactive documentary expertise, offering important perception into the lives of girl well being employees who proceed to face on the frontlines of Pakistan in opposition to all infectious illnesses, saving a whole lot of lives, each single day.
Woman well being employees are a part of a authorities program that was developed in 1994 to supply primary well being care providers to underprivileged communities in rural and low-income city areas. They’ve performed an important function in polio vaccine dispensation, pre- and post-natal consciousness and healthcare for rural moms, and well being training and promotion, household planning, and most just lately, for COVID-19.
Divided right into a sequence of episodes, “Behind the Masks: Pakistan” is a key episode which focuses on the struggles confronted by healthcare employees particularly in Pakistan, chronicling their challenges and the affect of COVID-19 on their lives. The Pakistan episode of the documentary highlights the work of Hassena, a girl well being employee [LHW] who, alongside together with her colleagues, fashioned the All Sindh Woman Well being Employees and Staff Union (ASLHWEU) to advocate for higher working situations and wages.
With “Behind the Masks: Pakistan”, PSI campaigns for flood aid, the restoration of the well being danger allowance for well being employees, provision of the service construction for girl well being employees, and the cancellation of debt, together with Pakistan’s sovereign debt as a part of local weather reparations.
Certainly, regardless of the important frontline function of girl well being employees within the combat in opposition to illnesses equivalent to polio, cholera, and COVID-19, they proceed to face harassment, horrible working situations, low pay, inflation and wage stagnation, lack of recent hiring regardless of elevated want, threats as polio employees, vaccines shortages and inequality, and a scarcity of recognition. To this finish the Behind The Masks: Pakistan episode focuses on key points equivalent to vaccine entry, wages and hiring, the service construction, and ILO Conference 190[1], which seeks to guard folks from violence and harassment at work.
For the reason that documentary was filmed, the well being danger allowance has been withdrawn for healthcare employees, regardless of being continuously in danger, treating sufferers with infectious illnesses. Points round wages and hiring together with the dearth of funding for the well being care sector, proceed to construct and the latest devastating flood has created further well being crises.
The floods have displaced at the very least 7.9 million folks and broken or destroyed greater than 2 million homes and 1,460 well being services wiping out a big a part of the nation’s agriculture. Frontline employees are struggling to deal with the speedy disaster of injured and displaced folks whereas the unfold of water-borne illnesses and restricted medical provides proceed to create additional hardship. Certainly, an enormous variety of Woman Well being Employees themselves have been affected by the flood by way of displacement and sickness.
“Behind the Masks: Pakistan” then sheds a light-weight on the continual protest of Pakistan’s healthcare employees to demand the resumption of the well being danger allowance, the service construction and equally the persecution of these protesting, by way of arrest and using power.
Behind The Masks: Pakistan episode may be skilled at: https://behindthemask.worldwide/
The documentary is produced in collaboration with Employees Training and Analysis Group (WERO), PSI’s accomplice group in Pakistan that’s strengthening and supporting the motion of girl well being employees.
[1] https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C190