This study explored fathers' perceptions about breastfeeding infants. A qualitative exploratory study design was used. Study setting was urban and semiurban areas of Karachi, Pakistan. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 fathers. The following themes emerged from the data collected: knowledge and awareness and enabling and impeding factors. Most fathers seemed eager to get involved and assist their partners in proper breastfeeding practices because they believed that doing so is in accordance with their faith. Fathers felt that adequate support from their family members and employers could enable them to encourage their partners to initiate and maintain exclusive and optimum breastfeeding practices. Exploring fathers' perception regarding breastfeeding in the context of Pakistan is still a new field of study.

This is an exploratory study that explores the experiences of lactating women in initiating, continuing, or discontinuing breastfeeding in an urban area of Karachi, Pakistan. Objectives. To explore the experiences of lactating women and to understand their support and hindering mechanisms in initiating and maintaining breastfeeding. Methods. This is an exploratory design assisting in exploring the participant's experiences of initiating and maintaining breastfeeding to better understand their world. Purposive sampling was used, and data was analyzed through manual thematic analysis. Results. The data revealed that mother's knowledge, sociocultural environment, breastfeeding decision, and self- and professional support acted as driving forces for the participants. However, sociocultural environment, physiological changes, time management, and being a housewife to breastfeed their children were all challenges and barriers that the participants thought hindered their breastfeeding initiation and maintenance. Conclusion. Breastfeeding is a natural but taxing phenomenon, and breastfeeding mothers experience supporting and hindering factors in initiating and maintaining breastfeeding.

Violence against youth is a global issue; one form of youth victimization is school corporal punishment. We use baseline assessments from a cluster randomized controlled trial to examine the prevalence of school corporal punishment, by gender, and the relationship to levels of peer violence at school, parent corporal punishment, youth food security and youth academic performance and school attendance in Pakistan. Forty homogenous public schools in the urban city of Hyderabad, Pakistan were chosen for randomization into the trial evaluating a youth violence prevention intervention. 1752 6th graders, age 11–14 years, were selected as the target population. Since schools are segregated by gender in Pakistan, data are from interviews in 20 boys’ schools and 20 girls’ schools. Overall, 91.4% of boys and 60.9% of girls reported corporal punishment at school in the previous 4 weeks and 60.3% of boys had been physically punished at home in the past 4 weeks compared to 37.1% of girls. Structural equation modeling revealed one direct pathway for both boys and girls from food insecurity to corporal punishment at school while indirect pathways were mediated by depression, the number of days missed from school and school performance and for boys also by engagement in peer violence. Exposure to corporal punishment in school and from parents differs by gender, but in both boys and girls poverty in the form of food insecurity was an important risk factor, with the result that poorer children are victimized more by adults.

This qualitative study explored parental perceptions regarding parent's choice of quality childcare centers in urban areas of Karachi, Pakistan. Sixteen participants were selected from two centers in different geographical areas. For parents, the most common reason for selecting the childcare centers was the lack of other available options such as family support. Availability and accessibility of childcare centers were reported as supporting factors, while lack of family support, lack of information, and violent city conditions were identified as barriers to choosing childcare centers. In addition, husband support was perceived as a facilitator and a barrier to choosing childcare centers.

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