©InfoThe Pakistan Red Crescent Society runs a number of health programmes, including mobile and static clinics, first aid, and hygiene and sanitation promotion activities.
The mobile clinics have been running since 2000 and continue to operate in areas lacking access to even the most primitive health service. Many communities live in semi-desert, rural areas where coal mines provide the main source of income. The mines are private and offer little protection to employees, so respiratory problems and injuries are common.
The clinics provide the following basic health services to vulnerable people:
- family planning
- pregnancy and childbirth-related health needs
- treatment for diseases such as pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea and referral for tuberculosis.
The British Red Cross is supporting mobile clinics operating out of Quetta, Mastung and Quila Saifullah as well as supporting three basic health units in Quetta, Nushki and Chaman. The clinics serve a population of 23,250 people and over 56,000 consultations were given in 2010.
A lot of clinic activity is related to pregnancy. In some areas, literacy levels are low and cultural values don’t encourage women to make independent decisions. Family planning counselling addresses common beliefs that affect use of services. The services are all free, and where paying for treatment can make the difference between eating or not eating, they are a lifeline.