North West Frontier Province, Pakistan: millions forced to flee violence overwhelm health facilities and local resources
Jun 19, 2009
Recent violence in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has forced an estimated 2.1 million people to flee their homes. The majority have sought refuge in small, improvised camps or are staying with host families. Local resources in the region are overwhelmed by the influx of displaced people. Despite security restrictions, MSF is providing healthcare and distributing essential relief items to assist displaced families.
More than two million people have fled their homes in the wake of recent violence in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. Eighty per cent of them are now living with host families or in improvised camps set up in schools, mosques or abandoned buildings, primarily in Mardan district. In some host households, as many as 50 displaced people are living in one room. Because of a lack of space, women and children sleep inside and men outdoors, or people are sleeping in shifts.
MSF is providing emergency healthcare and relief to the displaced population, but the scale of need is enormous and insecurity in the region is seriously restricting aid operations.
“We’re targeting areas where there are high concentrations of displaced families, since we don’t have the capacity to cover the needs of all the people everywhere,” said Eymeric Laurent-GASCOIN, MSF field coordinator in Peshawar.
“But we are greatly limited by the security situation. Ideally, we would have multiple outreach and mobile medical teams identifying needs and carrying out distributions and medical consultations, but we can’t increase the number of our teams and travel freely around the region in such a volatile security environment. We know that the displaced we reach receive good quality aid, but it feels like a drop in the ocean compared to the massive number of people who have fled the war.”
Local health facilities are struggling to cope with the huge influx of people requiring medical care. Patient admissions and consultations in some hospitals have increased by up to 100 per cent, and large numbers of patients need urgent treatment or care for war related injuries. MSF is helping increase emergency healthcare and referral capacity in Mardan, Lower Dir and Malakand.
“There is an increasing number of organizations providing support to primary health care structures in Mardan district, but the population also needs functional referral hospitals with round-the-clock emergency services,” said Fabien SCHNEIDER, MSF head of mission.
On June 4th, MSF set up a 40-bed ward and started working in the emergency department in Mardan Medical Centre. Staff treated 94 patients, including 21 with war-related injuries, in the first ten days of activity. MSF is also providing emergency healthcare in Takht Bhai rural health centre and is operating an ambulance service to send severe cases to MSF-supported hospitals in the region.
In Lower Dir, MSF staff are providing emergency care at Timurgara District Hospital, Sammer Bagh and Munda. At the district hospital, an average 700 people are treated in emergency each week; last month, 128 people predominantly from the Swat valley were treated for war related injuries. In the other two health facilities 350 – 400 patients are treated each week.
In neighbouring Malakand district, an MSF team is working in the emergency, surgical and obstetric departments of Dargai hospital. The surgical team performs 100 operations each month and 35 deliveries are carried out every week.
There is an increased risk of epidemics in the region due to overcrowding, rising temperatures and a lack of access to primary healthcare, particularly in rural areas where there are few functioning health clinics. An estimated 60,000 pregnant women are among the two million displaced. MSF teams are providing antenatal and mother and child health care in two camps and 14 other areas where displaced families are living. An average 3,000 consultations are carried out each week in Mardan, Lower Dir, Peshawar, Charsadda and Manshera districts.
“Scabies, respiratory tract infections and general body pain are the most common health problems that we have seen so far,” said Anja BRAUNE, an MSF nurse responsible for primary health care activities around Peshawar. “Children under five years of age and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. I meet patients every day who need medical treatment, but most of all there is a huge need, especially amongst women, to talk about the traumas they experienced while fleeing the violence.”
MSF is also distributing relief items, including tents, mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits, and cooking sets, to displaced families in Mardan, Peshawar, and Lower Dir. In May, over 2,000 kits of basic relief items were distributed to displaced families. MSF is also managing three camps in Lower Dir and Mardan, covering most of the basic needs in terms of shelter, non-food item distribution, provision of water and sanitation facilities for 11,000 people.
MSF also runs medical programmes in Baluchistan, Kurram Agency, and Manshera District. In Pakistan, MSF does not accept funding from any government or donor agency, and relies solely on private donations from the general public to carry out its work.
More than two million people have fled their homes in the wake of recent violence in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. Eighty per cent of them are now living with host families or in improvised camps set up in schools, mosques or abandoned buildings, primarily in Mardan district. In some host households, as many as 50 displaced people are living in one room. Because of a lack of space, women and children sleep inside and men outdoors, or people are sleeping in shifts.
MSF is providing emergency healthcare and relief to the displaced population, but the scale of need is enormous and insecurity in the region is seriously restricting aid operations.
“We’re targeting areas where there are high concentrations of displaced families, since we don’t have the capacity to cover the needs of all the people everywhere,” said Eymeric Laurent-GASCOIN, MSF field coordinator in Peshawar.
“But we are greatly limited by the security situation. Ideally, we would have multiple outreach and mobile medical teams identifying needs and carrying out distributions and medical consultations, but we can’t increase the number of our teams and travel freely around the region in such a volatile security environment. We know that the displaced we reach receive good quality aid, but it feels like a drop in the ocean compared to the massive number of people who have fled the war.”
Local health facilities are struggling to cope with the huge influx of people requiring medical care. Patient admissions and consultations in some hospitals have increased by up to 100 per cent, and large numbers of patients need urgent treatment or care for war related injuries. MSF is helping increase emergency healthcare and referral capacity in Mardan, Lower Dir and Malakand.
“There is an increasing number of organizations providing support to primary health care structures in Mardan district, but the population also needs functional referral hospitals with round-the-clock emergency services,” said Fabien SCHNEIDER, MSF head of mission.
On June 4th, MSF set up a 40-bed ward and started working in the emergency department in Mardan Medical Centre. Staff treated 94 patients, including 21 with war-related injuries, in the first ten days of activity. MSF is also providing emergency healthcare in Takht Bhai rural health centre and is operating an ambulance service to send severe cases to MSF-supported hospitals in the region.
In Lower Dir, MSF staff are providing emergency care at Timurgara District Hospital, Sammer Bagh and Munda. At the district hospital, an average 700 people are treated in emergency each week; last month, 128 people predominantly from the Swat valley were treated for war related injuries. In the other two health facilities 350 – 400 patients are treated each week.
In neighbouring Malakand district, an MSF team is working in the emergency, surgical and obstetric departments of Dargai hospital. The surgical team performs 100 operations each month and 35 deliveries are carried out every week.
There is an increased risk of epidemics in the region due to overcrowding, rising temperatures and a lack of access to primary healthcare, particularly in rural areas where there are few functioning health clinics. An estimated 60,000 pregnant women are among the two million displaced. MSF teams are providing antenatal and mother and child health care in two camps and 14 other areas where displaced families are living. An average 3,000 consultations are carried out each week in Mardan, Lower Dir, Peshawar, Charsadda and Manshera districts.
“Scabies, respiratory tract infections and general body pain are the most common health problems that we have seen so far,” said Anja BRAUNE, an MSF nurse responsible for primary health care activities around Peshawar. “Children under five years of age and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. I meet patients every day who need medical treatment, but most of all there is a huge need, especially amongst women, to talk about the traumas they experienced while fleeing the violence.”
MSF is also distributing relief items, including tents, mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits, and cooking sets, to displaced families in Mardan, Peshawar, and Lower Dir. In May, over 2,000 kits of basic relief items were distributed to displaced families. MSF is also managing three camps in Lower Dir and Mardan, covering most of the basic needs in terms of shelter, non-food item distribution, provision of water and sanitation facilities for 11,000 people.
MSF also runs medical programmes in Baluchistan, Kurram Agency, and Manshera District. In Pakistan, MSF does not accept funding from any government or donor agency, and relies solely on private donations from the general public to carry out its work.
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