Pakistan: 6,50,000 pregnant women in flood-hit areas in need of maternal health service

As Pakistan battles worst floods in recent history, vulnerable sections of the population, such as pregnant women and children, are particularly affected.

The United Nations Population Fund has said that almost 650,000 pregnant women in flood-hit areas require maternal health services to ensure a safe pregnancy and childbirth — with up to 73,000 expected to give birth in September. The UN agency stressed that the women will need skilled birth attendants, newborn care and support.

At campsites, many of them government schools turned into relief camps, stranded people and their livestock live side-by-side in cramped conditions without sanitation. And many women find it distressing to share living space with strangers, particularly men.

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Pregnant women at the camps also complain of a lack of female doctors and midwives to help them. Most of them have resisted being examined by visiting male doctors as in Pakistan's conservative society, it is often deemed inappropriate for women to consult male doctors, especially for gynecological issues.