TO SINDH AS FLOODS WORSEN
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan- 16 September 2011 – Responding to the Government's call for international assistance, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is moving rapidly to deliver urgently needed reproductive health services to flood-affected people in Pakistan as part of a coordinated United Nations humanitarian response.
According to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the unprecedented torrential rains in the southern part of the country have affected more than 5.7 million people mostly in Sindh province. Over one million houses are damaged or destroyed and there is extensive damage to livestock and crops. The Government has so far set up more than 2,600 relief camps.
| District Badin: Hawa and her family took refuge in a public school building, now even the school is flooding - Photo: Jameel/Walkabout 2011 |
Certain districts, now submerged, had high malnutrition even before the floods. The women who were already severely anemic will be even more prone to complications of pregnancy and delivery. With the continuing rains and stagnating water, pregnant women and newborns living in open air are increasingly exposed to malaria and dengue.
In the face of the rapidly evolving emergency, UNFPA is collaborating with humanitarian partners to deliver reproductive health and protection services to women and adolescent girls. Supplies to cover the reproductive health needs of 600,000 people for one month have been dispatched to Sindh and are being distributed in seven severely affected districts where the number of women is the highest. The Fund is urgently mobilizing more medicines and essential supplies to reach the affected communities.
Twenty-five mobile service units are being moved to seven of the hardest-hit districts in Sindh: Badin, Khairpur, Mirpur Khas, Nawabshah, Umerkot, Tando Muhammed Khan and Tando Allahyar Khan. These vehicles are equipped to provide primary health care, basic emergency obstetric care and services responding to gender-based violence. Support will be scaled up to provide comprehensive obstetric services through health facilities in a second phase.
"UNFPA ensures that women are able to deliver safely even in times of disaster. While our role remains the same whether in emergency, early recovery or development, in a humanitarian crisis our work become even more urgent as the vulnerability of women and girls is increased." says Rabbi Royan, UNFPA Country Representative in Pakistan.
In the relief camps, women and children make up more than 70 per cent of the camp population. UNFPA is working to ensure that the protection needs of displaced women and adolescent girls are not forgotten. "Women are scared to go out, especially at night; hygiene and latrines are big issues at the moment", says Khalida Parveen, UNFPA staff in Hyderabad.
For more information, please contact:
ISLAMABAD, Dr. Sara Raza Khan, +92 51 835566, skhan@unfpa.org
Muhammad Ajmal, mobile +92 300 500 1724, ajmal@unfpa.org
BANGKOK: William A. Ryan, mobile +66 89 897 6984, ryanw@unfpa.org
*****
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the rights of every women, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and women is treated with dignity and respect.
Tariq Khattak, Islamabad, Pakistan.
GSM = 0300-9599007 and 0333-9599007
Email: Tariqgulkhattak@gmail.com
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