Following the monsoon floods that have struck Sindh province
for the second year in a row, UNICEF and its partners are now reaching
hundreds of thousands of families with life-saving assistance. Almost
210,000 people are now receiving clean water daily, while supplies such
as buckets, soap, water purification tablets and tarpaulins are being
distributed to more than 100,000 people.
UNICEF has also been supporting some 100 mobile immunization teams
from the Department of Health to administer more than 175,500 vaccines,
including polio and measles, to children at relief sites.
UNICEF-supported mobile and static health teams have already reached
more than 11,000 women with ante-natal and post-natal care, safe
deliveries, and referrals to health facilities. In addition, mobile
teams are going house to house to screen children and pregnant and
lactating women, identifying the malnourished and referring them to for
appropriate treatment. This week, UNICEF also has set up 900 Temporary
Learning Centres for 45,000 children.
UNICEF and partners have now established 23 new centres for the
management of severely malnourished children in affected districts.
These complement the 454 centres already established in response to the
2010 floods and which continue to operate in partnership with other UN
agencies and national and international NGOs.
However, UNICEF is now facing a major funding shortfall as it scales
up humanitarian assistance to meet the key needs of hundreds of
thousands of children and women displaced by the floods. Within the UN
Rapid Response Plan, UNICEF is appealing to the international community
for US$50.3 million to cover the immediate needs of children and women
for six months. To date, only limited funding has been received and
UNICEF’s water trucking program alone costs US$600,000 per month.
Additional relief supplies for health, nutrition and water are urgently
needed but cannot be purchased without additional funds.
“Time is of the essence to meet the critical life-saving needs of
children and families affected by the floods, which have compounded
existing vulnerabilities. UNICEF is already providing critical
humanitarian assistance but requires additional resources in order to
deliver at scale,” said UNICEF Pakistan Representative, Dan Rohrmann.
Starting next week, in collaboration with the Department of Health
and partners such as WHO and UNFPA, more than one million women and
children will be reached in six flood-affected districts with a package
of assistance, which includes immunization, deworming, and awareness
messages on diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria, as well as the
distribution of clean delivery kits, newborn kits and hygiene kits.
This is expected to significantly reduce the threats of communicable
diseases as well as the complications of pregnancies. SANA
