Women and children are worst hit by the flooding in Pakistan
Monday 6 August
For further information Georgina Cooper/Amelia Lyons
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Women and children are worst hit by the flooding in Pakistan
As floods continue to wreak devastation across the world, the impact is being felt particularly heavily by women and children in Pakistan.
Traditionally responsible for household work - particularly the cooking, cleaning and ensuring the health and well being of the family – women are now faced with the added pressure of carrying out this role within an emergency situation.
On top of this, skin infections are common after people have come into contact with unclean water. Children are particularly susceptible as they are more likely to scratch the infection or insect bits.
Fiona McSheehy, who was in Pakistan at the start of the flooding as part of the Red Cross Red Crescent Field Assessment and Coordination Team to assess the situation and prioritise need, said: “The burden is high for women anyway, but in an emergency situation it is even higher. “
The British Red Cross is working in Shadahkot-Kambar district in Sindh where people whose homes and livelihoods were washed away by the flooding are being housed in schools.
Giving some examples of the stress women are under, Fiona added: “It is very difficult for women to wash in public, more so than for men, which has led to women feeling they couldn’t wash resulting in hygiene issues.”
This has led to problems including constipation, being unable to pray and some who go to the toilet in the dark risk being bitten by snakes.
Responding to the need the British Red Cross sent out a mass sanitation unit to Sindh province where they are providing sanitation and hygiene facilities appropriate to the difficult situation people find themselves in. This includes screens for women to be safe and private as well as promoting good hygiene practices and the distribution of hygiene kits to families – soap, laundry soap, razors, underwear and sanitary protection for women.
Vendela Fortune, who is working as part of the Sanitation team, said: “I am hearing from women that it is really difficult living in such close quarters and they are having to adjust.
“Living in very public conditions adds to the stress on top of coping with the incredible heat – often around 50 degrees.”
The British Red Cross is working as part of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which is continuing the relief and recovery efforts across Asia where around 35 million people have been affected by the flooding.
To give to the Asia Floods Appeal please go to: www.redcross.org.uk/asiafloods
ENDS
Notes to editor
The British Red Cross helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We are part of a global voluntary network, responding to conflicts, natural disasters and individual emergencies.
We enable vulnerable people in the UK and abroad to prepare for and withstand emergencies
in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help them to recover and move on
with their lives. | |
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