1. 1. 1. 1. Public Health Specialist for assessing providing vitamin A supplements to children under 5 in post NIDs scenario. A qualitative research study involving all the provinces and areas (Dec 2023-May 2024)
         2. Public Health Specialist for developing Anaemia prevention and management guidelines in coordination with MoNHSRC with the support of Nutrition International under Prime Consulting (Dec2023-March 2024)
         3. Gender and Human Rights Analysis Coordinator — IGNIT3 for Pakistan under Nutrition International. Data collevtion from Sindh and KP (Dec 2023 – 15 Feb 2024)
         4. Master trainer for training health care providers on Multiple Micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy in District Swabi (Oct 2023)- Under Nutrition International
         5. Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant for End term review of Programme for Improved Nutrition in Sindh (PINS) project supported by EU. (March 8-July 15^th, 2023)
         6. Development of case studies of Nutrition International grant for End project review of the project titled COVID-19- A nutrition response for pregnant women and children. Working in the capacity of Public Health specialist. Also participated in conceptualizing the proposal and won it on behalf of Prime Consultants. (March 2023)
         7. Principal Investigator (Prime Consultants) for the project third-party evaluation for i-Check connect Beta testing for Digitizing Pakistan’s Vitamin A Oil Program to Drive Sustainability. Qualitative research (June 2022- Oct 2022), including in-depth interviews with the stakeholder’s millers and government partners. Under the supervision of the Team lead, conducted data collection, analysis and report writing followed by the development of a technical brief and paper for publication.
         8. Consultant for Nutrition International (NI) assessing scale-up and utilisation of iCheck Croma 3 device for assessing vitamin A fortification in edible oil. Qualitative research (September 2021- January 2022) followed by writing a report, brief and paper for publication
         9. Worked as a consultant for a short-term assignment (April 14- June 10, 2021) for IPAS Pakistan. Conducted data analysis of a two-year project implemented by IPAS. The data was converted into a manuscript for publication in an impact factor journal.
         10. Worked as Team Leader for conducting Qualitative Study to Identify Reasons for Significantly Declining Breast-Feeding Rates in the Province – of Punjab supported by UNICEF from Jan 2017- Jan 2018
         11. Worked as a team member (Data Analyst) for Grapevine consultants for the project Dissemination of the TA funded by the Technical Resource Facility (TRF). Involved in the development of technical and policy briefs of the assignments carried out by TRF
         12. Under MNCH department Health Services Academy, worked as a quantitative researcher for the project “Nutritional assessment of people 50 years and above in the three districts Rahimyar Khan, Jacobabad and Shikarpur” from January – May 2013 funded by HelpAge international.
         13. Developed a trainers’ manual for MOs on the Management of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia at the primary care level under the MNCH department.
         14. Under Mustashaar Social Development Advisors worked as an RH/FP experts for the Training of the trainers on Communication Skills and counselling skills on reproductive health and Family Planning a five-day workshop for the Marie Stopes Society. Initiated the process by writing a concept note followed by putting up a proposal for the ToT. Later, was responsible for providing technical inputs for conducting the toot and developing the training manual.
         15. Worked as a Principal investigator for 4 months (Oct 2011 to Jan 2012) Project of NRSP funded by David and Lucile Packard. “End Project Evaluation in the Districts of Rahim Yar Khan & Rajanpur” of “Positioning of Family Planning as Health Intervention” Evaluation was based on quantitative & qualitative techniques. Carried out In-depth, Key Informant interviews, Focus Group Discussions and Observations of health facilities. Evaluation of the project was based on DAC evaluation criteria assessing output, effect, and perceptions of different stakeholders regarding project achievements followed by lessons learnt and recommendations for the 2^nd phase of the project.
         16. Worked as a Quantitative Research Associate for the project “Reduction of low birth weight and maternal anemia in Umerkot and Tharparker” dated from November 2011-October 2014 funded by UNICEF. Participated in Proposal writing under Mustashaar and after its acceptance involved in assisting team leader with the development of tools and compiling of relevant literature, data analysis and report writing.
         17. Worked as a Qualitative Research Associate for a four-month project April 2011-July 2011 “Assess coverage of routine EPI & polio eradication efforts & implementation gaps at district level”, funded by PLAN Pakistan. The assessment was based on both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Carried out training of surveyors for household data collection. Monitoring and supervising the data collection process. Carried out IDIs, FGDs, and observations of the Health teams during National Immunization Days. Data analysis and report writing of the assigned sections.

PhD. Research Thesis

• Research on “Understanding Factors Affecting Scaling-up a Pilot Project of Postpartum Family Planning Uptake among Women In Pakistan”. Mixed-method research
• Oral/paper presentation at 10th International Public Health Conference, Health Services Academy, Islamabad

Master’s Thesis

• Dissertation on “Assessment of Women Satisfaction on the Quality of Maternity Services Provided Tertiary Care Facility, Islamabad” carried out from April-June 2010
• Paper presentation in MNCH conference held at HSA, Dec 2010
• Accepted for poster presentation at an international conference for medical education (ICME) being held in Abu-Dhabi in December 2010

• 1. Ashraf M, Ashraf F, Rehman A, Khan R. Assessment of women satisfaction level with maternity services; Evidence from Pakistan. International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health 2012; 4: 11
  2. D, Masud N, Ashraf M. Are school children ready to donate blood; Journal of Ayub Medical college Abbottabad Pakistan 2014; 26:1.
  3. Tabassum T, Ashraf M, Thaver I. Original Article Hospitalized patients’ awareness of their rights- a cross-sectional survey in public and private tertiary care hospitals of Punjab; Journal of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad Pakistan 2016; 28(3):582–6.
  4. Thaver I, Ashraf M. Rise and stalling of public health in Pakistan. J Pak Med Association 2017; 651.
  5. Mushtaq, K., Ashraf M, & Thaver, I. H. (2020). Who are the women wishing to opt for contraception? JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 70(12B), 2460–2463. https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.770
  6. Thaver I, Ahmad AM, Ashraf M, Asghar SK, Mirza MS. Effect of multi-pronged interventions in reducing low birth weight and maternal anaemia among pregnant women. A community-based interventions research in non-agrarian resource constrained setting of rural Pakistan. J Pak Med Assoc. 2020 Dec;70(12(A)):2092-2101. doi: 10.47391/JPMA.1218. PMID: 33475578.
  7. Ashraf M, Ismail A, Badilla II, Thaver I. Factors affecting successful scale-up of health-related pilot projects. J Pak Med Assoc. 2021;71(2):1–17.
  8. Ismail A, Ashraf M, Idris IB, Thaver I, Ahmad AM, Siddiqui SJ. Readiness assessment of health facilities for providing postpartum family planning services after project-based scale-up activities ended – A study from Pakistan. Rawal Med J. 2021;46(4):982-986
  9. Ismail A, Ashraf M, Badilla Idris I, Thaver I, Maqbool Ahmad A, Jamal Siddique S. Identifying Factors Associated with the Use of a Scaled-Up Postpartum Family Planning Project Implemented in Punjab, Pakistan. Malaysian J Public Heal Med. 2021;21(2):466–74.
  10. Ghani S, Thaver I, Mehboob M, Rafique K, Ashraf M. Prevalence and predictors of respiratory symptoms in Karachi, Pakistan. Rawal Med J. 2022;47(4):868–71.
  11. Thaver I, Ashraf M. Period Poverty: An added poverty in humanitarian crisis. J Pak Med Assoc. 2023;73(9):1926–7.
  12. Ashraf M, Shahzad S, Sequeria P, Bashir A, Azmat SK. Understanding Challenges Women Face in Flood-Affected Areas to Access Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: A Rapid Assessment from a Disaster-Torn Pakistan. Souza RT, editor. Biomed Res Int [Internet]. 2024;2024:1113634. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/1113634

  Reviewer

  1. BMC Human Resources for Health
  2. Saudi Medical Journal
  3. Journal of Pakistan Medical Association
  4. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association
  5. Abstract reviewer for an international conference on Family planning (ICFP) 2022

  Languages

  • English – speak fluently and read/write with good proficiency
  • Urdu – national language speak/read and write with good proficiency

  References: To be provided on request

• www.linkedin.com/in/drmaryam-ashrafTop of Form
• https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1038-0951
• https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=lytR2h8AAAAJ