ReliefWeb

Highlights

• During major part of 2020, starting from 25th February, there has been a shift of focus towards the global COVID-19 pandemic and support to the government’s response. Due to the global pandemic and critical (76 per cent) funding gap, the humanitarian needs became even more dire. Heavy monsoon rainfall caused flooding and damages across the country particularly in Sindh and KP provinces.

• In the drought affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, 373,570 individuals were reached with clean drinking water, 97,300 reached with messages on safe hygiene practices. 41,020 children with SAM admitted for treatment, 115,552 pregnant and lactating women and 112,964 children received micronutrients supplements and 85,472 people received health, hygiene and nutrition messages through Mother and Child Weeks/Days.

• In addition, in the Larkana district of Sindh province, 42,706 individuals have been screened for HIV with 1,567 people confirmed positive (CDR: 3.7 per cent) till Dec 2020, more than 80 per cent of whom are children under 14.
Out of the total registered 1,339 children, 94 per cent are on ARVs, under UNICEF supported Paediatric HIV care units.

• In the newly merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 16,730 children were treated for SAM, the provision of micronutrients supplements reached 146,167 pregnant and lactating women and 142,863 children. 209,917 people reached with health, hygiene and nutrition messages through Mother and Child Weeks/Days.

Funding Overview and Partnership

UNICEF Pakistan required US$ 52.53 million to sustain provision of life-saving services for women and children in the country. As of 31 December 2020, the country has received US$ 13.65 million (23.77 per cent) of financial requirements and faced a critical gap of US$ 40.05 million (76.23 per cent) to provide health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education services including psychosocial support to the women and children in the response areas. The US$ 13.65 million received by the office comprised of: US$ 3.38 million of humanitarian resources received during the year; US$1.67 million humanitarian funds carried over from 2019 and US$ 8.60 million of UNICEF's Regular Resources as well as Other Resources received from the United Kingdom for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province’s Newly Merged Districts (NMDs) which contributed significantly to the results.

UNICEF expresses its sincere gratitude to CERF Secretariat, United States, United Kingdom and all public and private sector donors for the contributions received for the humanitarian action.

For the UNICEF COVID-19 response please see the link to the COVID-19 Situation Report from UNICEF Pakistan:
Pakistan COVID-19 Situation Reports 2020

Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs

Drought:

Above normal rainfall during the first quarter of this year, especially in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provided significant relief to the drought affected areas of Pakistan. During the second quarter of the year, above normal (11.54 per cent) precipitation was observed over Pakistan, although some areas received below normal rainfall leading to mild to moderate drought-like conditions in lower Sindh, southern Punjab and most western areas of Balochistan. As per Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD), the rainfall was way below normal in Balochistan and Sindh provinces during the months of April, May, and June being 30.6 per cent, 60.9 per cent and 35.4 per cent below normal in Balochistan and 27.8 per cent, 66 per cent and 84.9 per cent below normal in Sindh during these months respectively.

During the third quarter of the year (July-September) 2020, above normal (31.26 per cent) precipitation was observed over Pakistan and helped to eliminate the drought conditions especially over Sindh province. During the month of December 2020, light to moderate rainfall reported from PMD stations across Pakistan while most of the places in Sindh and Balochistan received little or no rainfall.