News
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Severe malnutrition after Pakistan floods: UNICEF
ISLAMABAD: UNICEF said on Friday that six months on from Pakistan’s devastating floods, nearly a quarter of children in the worst-hit province of Sindh remain acutely malnourished.
The results of a new provincial survey show the problem is critical, with 23.1 percent of children in the north and 21.2 percent of children in the south of Sindh recorded as acutely malnourished.
UNICEF said the Sindh government estimates about 90,000 children aged 6-59 months are malnourished. “This rate is well above the World Health Organisation’s 15 percent emergency threshold level, which triggers a humanitarian response,” UNICEF said in a statement.
“Children with severe acute malnutrition need immediate treatment,” the agency said, adding that it was working with federal and provincial government authorities to reach and treat the children.
The UN launched a $2 billion flood relief appeal in September but still requires nearly half that amount, in particular to help farmers return to work after the waters devastated fields. The UN said about seven million people are still living on monthly food rations.
Around 166,000 flood victims in Balochistan are still displaced and living in 240 camps and spontaneous settlements after six months of devastating floods last year, UNHCR said.
According to an UNHCR release on Friday, although the numbers fell from peak levels last September and October, when 3.27 million victims were living in camps, there are still homeless victims desperately in need of help. UNHCR has been providing assistance to many of them, but it is also helping a large number of those who have returned to their villages and have started rebuilding their damaged and destroyed homes.
Jaffarabad, was the worst affected district in the province with more than 16,000 houses in 851 villages destroyed. The agency has pledged to build 16,000 temporary shelters in Balochistan, with the help of local implementing partners. Work has either begun or has been completed 75 percent.
Shops and markets have reopened and people have started rebuilding homes in Katbar Mohalla and hundreds of other villages in the worst-hit districts of Jaffarabad and Naseerabad. When the floodwater hit Katbar Mohalla in August, the village was home to some 400 families, or about 3,000 people. They all fled, but today almost 90 percent are back and have started reconstruction work.
“Only a few lucky ones found their homes undamaged,” said a victim’s ailing father. “We pumped out some of the water so that we had a little bit of space on which to put up our tent,” he added. As part of its shelter programme, UNHCR is funding the construction of 500 one-room shelters in Balochistan for those deemed to be particularly vulnerable.
Meanwhile, some 25,000 people are still living in 39 camps in Balochistan, which was first hit by flooding on July 22 last year. A further 128,000 are spread across 188 locations in Sindh, while more than 13,000 are in 16 camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Many of these people lack the means to rebuild their homes, while others have lost livelihoods and are without sufficient cash or transport to move on. Over the past six months, UNHCR has provided emergency shelter to almost 2 million people as part of the joint humanitarian effort. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk