With millions of people affected by the floods, CWS-P/A makes an effort to ensure relief assistance reaches those who are most vulnerable. Malamjaba Union Council, Swat Photo: CWS-P/A
For many of us, taking a sick child to the doctor is a routine occurrence. But what if there are no doctors? No medicines? No hospitals?
One young mother in Segram, Pakistan, knows the answer. Even when she was fortunate enough to have a little money, Sadia’s only option was to visit what she called “a quack doctor” who charged unreasonably high rates for consultations and medicines. And that was before last summer’s massive flooding caused widespread destruction to the country’s health infrastructure and services.
Lack of access to medical care is typical in Pakistan, where there are an estimated 15,000 citizens for every physician. To improve those staggering odds, CWS-Pakistan/Afghanistan has provided needed healthcare for tens of thousands of people over the last several months.
After the floods, CWS supplied stationary health centers and sent mobile clinics to deliver vital health services to distressed families like Sadia’s. The CWS Segram clinic serves about 18,000 community members who have no other access to medical care. With many families still living on the roadside without shelter, food or safe drinking water, the threat of epidemics and waterborne diseases is high – and climbing.
“An average of 250 patients per day says a lot in the aftermath of the floods,” says Dr. Qaiser Jan, who manages CWS’s health response in the Swat District. “We still have cases of diarrhea, and this links to the poor living conditions of flood survivors.”
Even those who do have shelter do not have the resources to travel to a functioning health facility. Without the treatment provided by CWS’ mobile health units, many would have suffered and possibly died. The facilities feature three rooms fully equipped with medicines, medical supplies, equipment and attached washrooms.
The stationary and mobile CWS clinics are treating patients with waterborne diseases and other illnesses, providing free medicines and vaccinations, and referring patients for higher-level care when necessary. “From the beginning of winter, there has been a rise in upper respiratory infections,” says Dr. Rohmana Ayub, at the mobile clinic in Gullibagh in northwest Pakistan.
Women and children at risk
Dr. Ayub also notes that diarrhea cases remain high, especially among children. “Both women and children are still vulnerable,” she says, adding that she sees as many as 120 women and children in one day.
According to Dr. Ramesh, Health Coordinator with CWS partner PVDP, “Approximately 75 to 85 percent of our patients are children, and the most commonly reported ailments are diarrhea, skin infections, urinary tract infections, and some cases of malaria.” He has been working in the Khairpur District, assisting patients served by a CWS mobile health unit.
In Pakistan, it is the women who suffer most during a disaster because female doctors, like Dr. Ayub, are scarce. An estimated half-million women were expected to give birth within six months following the floods. Too often, notes Dr. Ramesh, women in flood-affected areas are forced to deliver without any medical facilities or treatment.
He tells about Raheela, a woman from Punhal Korai Village, whose village was badly damaged by the floods. “She was forced to give birth at home and unable to have a postnatal checkup.” Fortunately, the mobile health unit visited her village 36 hours after the birth. The medical team examined Raheela and treated her after finding that her blood pressure was extremely low and she was in severe pain.
CWS’s stationary and mobile health units also provide prenatal care, multivitamins and advice on nutrition and staying healthy.
More than medicines and consultations
Like other CWS efforts, the health initiatives implemented in Pakistan go beyond the quick fix. There, the CWS-P/A health team has held hundreds of sessions on waterborne diseases; endemic diseases; sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and AIDS; and nutrition.
Additionally, more than a thousand people have participated in hygiene sessions conducted by CWS-P/A, which has distributed more than 5,000 CWS Hygiene Kits. By putting this training into practice, families will dramatically reduce their future health risks.
Though CWS-P/A emergency health services have ended in many areas, recovery initiatives are still in progress. The team continues to coordinate closely with government health departments, the World Health Organization and other agencies in the health sector, identifying the needs and gaps in health services and developing strategies to meet them.
In the northern areas of Kohistan and Shangla, for example, CWS will provide health services at three existing facilities for eight months, until the government is ready to take over operations. Though the three structures were not destroyed, the shortage of doctors and medicines had left local residents without healthcare.
In mid-January, when 32-year-old Sadia visited the CWS clinic in Segram, she found hope. Her youngest child, Ushna, had been diagnosed with a respiratory infection that was then passed on to her other three children. “Now,” she said, “I can receive proper care for my children and myself.”
As the international health community celebrates World Health Day on April 7, 2011, CWS continues to focus on promoting quality health education and services for the vulnerable communities of Pakistan and the world at large.