1000s of pregnant women face life threat in Quake-hit NWFP, Kashmir
Pakistan Times National News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Some 17,000 earthquake-affected women in Pakistan are expected to give birth in the next two months. An estimated 1,200 of them might face major complications and about 400 will require surgical assistance.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, has warned that the health and safety of these pregnant women and adolescent girls is in jeopardy due to shock and trauma they suffered in October 8 quake, the harsh living conditions they now face, and their very limited access to basic health services and emergency obstetric care.

To help local authorities address this situation, the UNFPA is providing clean delivery kits, caesarian section kits, emergency supplies and much-needed surgical equipment to health centres and referral facilities as part of the United Nations coordinated response.

Nine UNFPA mobile clinics continue to offer medical assistance to affected communities in two hard-hit districts—Mansehra in North-West Frontier Province and Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir.

Over the past week, the Fund treated well over 10,000 patients and performed more than 80 deliveries. One woman with labour complications was flown by helicopter along with a woman doctor to the hospital in Muzaffarabad, where she safely delivered a healthy baby boy.

UNFPA Representative in Pakistan, Dr France Donnay, cautions, however, that additional funds will be required to adequately care for the thousands of women who will need medical assistance in the coming months. It has asked donors for $9 million to support reproductive health and $1 million for hygiene supplies as part of the UN-led consolidated humanitarian appeal for Pakistan.

As the earthquake response advances from emergency relief efforts to reconstruction, there is an urgent need to re-establish the health system and to train community health providers in basic maternal care. One major challenge is the shortage of female medical staff and community workers.

The Fund’s Pakistan office has assembled 100,000 hygiene kits for women and adolescent girls, each including items for personal use such as a towel, shawl, soap, comb and cotton wool. The kits would be distributed by community health workers and the UNFPA mobile service teams, with the support of international and local NGO partners.

As part of the humanitarian coordination effort, the UNFPA has shared its electronic database of geographical information about Mansehra and Muzaffarabad districts with the UN health cluster in Islamabad. This system provides detailed maps showing terrain, roads and population density, and has coordinates for all clinics and schools.●