Armed conflict between militant fundamentalists and Pakistani security forces in recent years has created the world’s largest displaced population, including 1.8 million refugees—mainly from Afghanistan—and an undetermined number of internally displaced Pakistanis.
Floods in 2010 and again in 2011 put as much as one-fifth of Pakistan’s land area underwater and officials estimate that up to 20 million people were affected.
International Medical Corps has worked in Pakistan since 1984. We initially provided basic paramedical training to young Afghan refugees. Our assistance extended in 1999 to the local Pakistani population in volatile frontier areas and in 2005, we were among the first to respond to a massive earthquake in the region. In 2010 we were again among first respondents to the devastating floods across the country.
Today, International Medical Corps provides medical services and water and sanitation facilities to internally-displaced Pakistanis and Afghan refugees in the frontier areas. We operate an emergency obstetrics care centre in Peshawar and most recently, launched an ECHO-funded programme to provide emergency primary health care, including reproductive health, mental health and nutrition services to flood-affected populations in Sindh province. International Medical Corps currently has more than 750 national staff members working in Pakistan.
International Medical Corps continues to ensure access to quality comprehensive basic primary and reproductive healthcare. Our work includes obstetric care with a community-based focus at Basic Health Units (BHUs) located in Afghan refugee camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. We also provide material and technical support to BHUs operated by local.
Across key under-served regions, we provide health education either at clinics or through traditional birth attendants and community health care workers. In addition, we offer vocational and literacy courses to refugees in Buner, Peshawar and Swabi Districts, and strengthen cross-border information sharing practices to make resources accessible to returning refugees in Afghanistan. We also operate a programme that supports gender-based violence prevention and management measures
International Medical Corps teams currently provide primary health care services to displaced Pakistanis in four administrative districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). We offer the same services to returnees in two additional districts, including ten health care facilities in the Swat Valley, which witnessed some of the region’s heaviest fighting in 2009.
These services focus on maternal-child health issues, psychosocial support and health education. Recognising a critical gap in the local health care cover, International Medical Corps provides emergency referral services to the IDP and returnee population transporting patients by ambulance from outlying clinics to our facilities.
We have also repaired a network of government-built clinics badly damaged in fighting in Swat, Buner and Dera Ishmail Khan districts.
International Medical Corps UK recognises the invaluable support of the following European donors to make our work possible.
