As many as 40 pregnant women a day fleeing fighting in northern Pakistan are facing life-threatening complications without proper medical assistance. (Oxfam has launched an emergency response to provide support to around 360,000 displaced people in Pakistan).
Rukhsana gave birth to a baby girl on her escape to safer areas in North Western Fortier Province from the Swat Valley. Five weeks on, mother and baby daughter (called Manahil) are living in a government school in Hayath Abad, Peshawar.
“I gave birth in a car. There was no woman present - I had to go through the pain by myself. “Here [in the school] we have no facilities for pregnant women or those recovering from childbirth.”
“Its hard to live here with men and women who we don’t know. I am pregnant and don’t like men staring at me,” says Pari Jan, who sixth baby is due in four months. Along with several other families, she is living in a school building in Mardan district. Her sister-in-law, Shakeela lives there too and is just one month away from labour. Pashmina, another woman living in the school, says she is five months pregnant.
These three women are worrying whether they will make it to their homes before they go into labour. “My doctor was advising me to walk, drink and eat fruit during pregnancy for the health of the baby,” Pari Jan says. “We can’t walk, can’t take proper rest, food is always short, medicine is unaffordable and getting some fruit is out of the question. Just a few days ago a woman was suffering from labour pain in this building. She was taken to a nearby clinic and the doctor refused to help her without a fee. We raised Rs 5000 from people living in the school and the nearby village. The doctor helped her after he received the money.
“Since we have been displaced from our homes in Swat, I haven’t had a proper medical check-up. A lady health worker comes to see me but if I need medicine I don’t have the money to buy it. We don’t even have enough to cover day-to-day expenses. If the local people stop helping us, we will die here out of hunger, thirst or heat.”
Pashmina says it’s not only a question of food for them but also a sense of losing respect while living in camps and schools with strangers. As a proud Pashtun, Pashmina values her privacy. “I don’t want my husband asking people to help him because his wife is having a baby.”
Robina Yasmin, a health worker, also displaced and living in the same school, expresses her concerns over the health of the pregnant women. “Without bed and medicine, pregnant women are suffering from mental stress, depression and back pain.”
Kalsum (20) is living in Yar Hussain/Lahore camp and will give birth to her second baby in July. She tells me that it is very hard for her living in this condition among strange people. “My husband tells me to stay in the tent. It is not easy sitting in one place for the whole day. I am not a prisoner. At the same time he is right to protect my privacy.”
Over 90 percent of displaced women from Swat and nearby districts and towns are illiterate. Language is yet another barrier for them to communicate their health problems to non-Pashtu speaking visiting doctors or medical practitioners. This camp has lady doctors but unfortunately they don’t speak Pashto. “I can’t understand them and they can’t understand me. I would feel uncomfortable discussing my health problems with someone who does not speak my language,” said Kulsum.
The UN estimates there are about 70,000 pregnant women among the people displaced from Swat, Dir and Bunir districts. It says more than 250 births take place every day in the camps and public buildings with as many as 40 pregnant women facing life-threatening complications without proper medical assistance.
Pakistan conflict: Oxfam’s response
Tags: Conflict, Humanitarian, pakistan, Swat valley
