Flood waters have left behind a trail of destruction affecting some 20 million people in Pakistan, according to government estimates. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the country’s northwest, the floods have affected millions, with women and children representing the vast majority.
VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Nina Martinek reports on emergency relief efforts in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, NW Pakistan.
All 24 districts in the province have been affected of which nine, including Charsaddah, have suffered severe damage. Thousands of villages have been flooded, with countless homes and schools destroyed.
Bridges and roads have collapsed across the flood zone, hampering relief activities and causing some of the worst-affected districts to remain inaccessible by road.
UNICEF’s top priority now is the provision of nutrition supplies, clean drinking water and sanitation, as well as health services and polio and measles vaccinations to prevent the outbreak of disease.
The health needs are immense, at the provincial health department, with support from humanitarian agencies including UNICEF, health teams provide life-saving health and nutrition services to the families worst affected and most vulnerable to diseases. Cases of water-borne diseases are reportedly on the rise in the affected areas.
Mobile health teams comprising doctors, female health workers and vaccinators are providing check-ups, including ante-natal and post-natal care for pregnant women, essential medicines and vaccinations. They are also disseminating health, nutrition and hygiene messages on prevention of water-borne diseases.
In addition, UNICEF has started blanket distribution of high-energy biscuits, multi-micronutrient sachets and other therapeutic foodstuffs to prevent malnutrition among vulnerable women and children.
Despite these efforts, however, there remains an urgent need to scale up these services as thousands of families are in dire need of similar interventions. A shortfall in supplies is jeopardizing effective aid efforts.
An estimated 6 million people are ‘severely affected’ and will need humanitarian assistance over the coming weeks.
Read the full Field Report on the UNICEF blog