500,000 lactating or pregnant flood-hit women in Pak need instant care: NGO

ISLAMABAD - Amongst millions of Pakistanis displaced by the recent floods, more than 85 per cent are women, 500,000 of whom are lactating or pregnant, requiring special food and nutritional support, an NGO- ActionAid- has stated.

“Women produce 60-80 percent of food in developing countries, yet they face stiff discrimination in access to credit, land, inputs, education and other key resources. Unless governments and donors invest in the specific needs of these women farmers, increase their rights to land and ease their unpaid care burden, hunger will never be eradicated. The floods have further threatened women’s access to food, increasing risks of hunger and food insecurity,” the Daily Times quoted ActionAid, as saying.

To reflect on issues arising in the aftermath of the unprecedented floods and their implication for women farmers, the NGO is organising a plenary session during the World Rural Women Day conference in Islamabad.

Aftab Alam, ActionAid’s International Food Rights Expert, Luigi Damiani, Senior Emergency and Rehabilitation Coordinator, FAO Pakistan, Amar Sindhu, Educationist and Women’s Rights Activist and Rafique Jamali, State Minister for Food and Agriculture, Pakistan will participate in the discussion.

The “worst floods in Pakistan’s history”, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours in July, have claimed the lives of over 1,600 people and disrupted the lives of 20 million people, eight percent of the population. (ANI)