400,000 pregnant women among flood affectees in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has estimated that some 400,000 pregnant women are among the 20 million food-affected people in Pakistan.

According to official figures, nearly 50,000 of them are expected to give birth within the next month, with approximately 7,500 needing surgery to handle pregnancy-related complications.

Meanwhile, UNFPA Asia Pacific Director, Nobuko Horibe, who completed a four-day visit to Pakistan on Saturday, stressed the importance of expanding partnerships to reach out to the affected women.

“In my meetings with the Ministers of Population Welfare and Health, we all agreed on the need to act together and coordinate humanitarian activities to deliver needed services to pregnant women, lactating mothers and newborn babies through community workers, mobile and static clinics and hospitals,” The Nation quoted Horibe, as saying.

She also noted the challenge of implementing and monitoring humanitarian activities to ensure accountability to both donors and the affected people in Pakistan.

It is estimated that the floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours, have claimed the lives of over 1600 people, while over two million homes have been damaged or destroyed.

The floods first struck the western province of Baluchistan on July 22 before inundating the worst-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and then entering Punjab and Sindh. (ANI)