Emergency Health Care Programme

A massive military operation launched by the security forces against the militants in the Swat district caused the migration of nearly 2.4 million residents. Termed as one of the worst displacement crises in the world by the UN, most of the IDPs ended up living with relatives or friends who were already burdened, while others made their way to camps set up by the GoP and UNHCR.

Despite local and international efforts, access to food, water & sanitation, medical care remained a challenge, especially for the most vulnerable groups i.e. pregnant women, children and the elderly. Moreover, rising temperatures in the summer caused a number of diseases such as acute diarrhea, gastrointestinal diseases and skin infections.

Funded by CFLI (Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives), and then by the Federal Republic of Germany in partnership with HELP, a German NGO, CAMP has been delivering an emergency health care programme for internally displaced persons (fleeing the conflict in the north of FATA and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa) in Nowshera district since May 2009. The programme has incorporated the following: the delivery of comprehensive primary and maternal/child health services from a static clinic within Jalozai Camp; the delivery of comprehensive primary and maternal/child health services from four mobile clinics, targeting sub-camps (schools & scattered population of IDPs and host communities) in all the Union Councils of Peshawar District & some areas in District Nowshera; distribution of hygiene kits to vulnerable families; and the provision of health and hygiene education through outreach workers and health staff at the facility.

We are hoping to extend the programme to DI Khan and Tank districts for IDPs from South Waziristan, and the affected families (both returnees and stayees) during the recovery period in Swat.