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Pakistan Humanitarian Situation Report, 1 January – 30 June 2017

Countries
Pakistan
Sources
UNICEF
Publication date
Origin
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Highlights

  • In 2017 UNICEF humanitarian support continued for displaced and returning families in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and the drought-affected population in Sindh. A total of 29,192 families returned to FATA since January 2017, while 45,488 families remained displaced.

  • UNICEF’s humanitarian response is critically underfunded, impacting required scale up and achievement of results especially health (98 per cent), education (97 per cent) and nutrition (91 per cent) sectors. Against an overall funding requirement of US$26.6 million, UNICEF has only received US$3.3 million to support the humanitarian response.

  • Despite an overall funding gap of 88 per cent, UNICEF was able to utilise previous year’s funds as well as leverage Government and partners’ resources to achieve results for its humanitarian interventions. At the midyear stage, the support from UNICEF and its partners has resulted in the vaccination of over 324,000 children (6 months to 10 years) for measles, provided over 51,000 people with access to water, ensured that nearly 17,000 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are receiving appropriate therapeutic treatment, given 16,665 children access to education services, and provided 18,216 children access to protective services.

Situation in Numbers

1,600,000 # of children affected out of

3,200,000 # of total affected population in conflict areas (Humanitarian Strategic Plan, 2017)

45,500 # of families still displaced in KP & FATA (UNOCHA, June 2017)

259,400 # Families returned to Govt. declared safe areas in FATA (UNOCHA, June 2017)

29,200 # of registered IDP families returned in 2017 (UNOCHA, June 2017)

UNICEF Appeal 2017 US$ 26.6 million

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

According to the 2017 Humanitarian Strategic Plan (HSP) it is estimated that 3.2 million people, of whom 1.6 million are children, are in need of humanitarian assistance in Pakistan. Major humanitarian situations include the displacement and return of families in KP and FATA, and the drought-like situation in some districts of the Sindh province. Overall the HSP 2017 identified 780,000 disaster-affected people in need of education interventions, 1.2 million for health, 530,000 for nutrition, 1.1 million for WASH and 1.4 million for protection.

Complex Emergency in KP & FATA: During 2017, humanitarian assistance continued to focus on supporting displaced populations living in hosting areas and those returning to their areas of origin in FATA.

The Government and humanitarian partners facilitated the returns of 29,192 families from January to June, of which 15 per cent were female headed households. Since 16 March 2015, a total of 259,360 families have returned to their places of origin in FATA. However, 45,488 families are still displaced, all living in host communities, and continue to require humanitarian support. The risks that these vulnerable populations face are worsened by the limited access to basic services, especially in FATA where protracted instability and ensuing access issues have negatively impacted the service delivery capacity and infrastructure.

Four inter-cluster assessments were conducted between January to June 2017 in FATA (North Waziristan, Orakzai and Kurram Agencies) to collect key information on time-sensitive and life-saving humanitarian needs, and to plan the strategic humanitarian response. In Orakzai, findings showed that 80-90 per cent of the educational facilities and health centres have been completely damaged and lack water and sanitation infrastructure. About 29 health facilities were reported damaged, and there is a severe shortage of trained female healthcare staff. Meanwhile in North Waziristan, 35-40 per cent of the education facilities in areas visited by the assessment mission team were nonfunctional and 60 per cent lacked water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. Approximately, 50 per cent of water supply schemes are non-functional and 70 per cent of the population are deprived of access to safe drinking water.

Drought in Sindh: Pakistan is also experiencing the devastating effects of climate change as demonstrated by the severe drought in parts of Sindh province since 2013. The drought situation has exacerbated the nutritional status of women and children in affected areas. The Sindh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2014 shows alarming figures with an infant mortality rate of 82 per thousand live births. Additionally, 190,000 children and 75,000 pregnant and lactating women in Sindh are malnourished and are in need of humanitarian support.

A joint UN mission was conducted in February 2017 to assess the situation in Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar districts of Sindh. The mission report recommended continuation and scale up of multi-sectoral actions to effectively mitigate the consequences of drought-like situation, which can be further aggravated by the absence of monsoon rainfall this year.