Pakistan: Meeting regular health needs amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Access to healthcare remains a challenge in Pakistan, especially for people in rural communities, informal settlements and areas affected by conflict.

Healthcare for women, children and newborns is a serious concern in Pakistan and remains our priority there. Women in rural areas die from preventable complications during pregnancy and delivery, and neonatal care is unavailable in many areas. According to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, one in every 11 children dies before the age of five.

Why are we here?

Our activities in 2021 in Pakistan

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2021.

MSF in Pakistan in 2021 In Pakistan, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) focuses on improving access to healthcare for women and children, and treatment for communicable diseases. In 2021, we also continued to support the COVID-19 response.
media:orange_logic_image:de512fad-5d84-49e6-9967-7cae3f0456f6

Despite the staffing and supply shortages caused by COVID-19, our teams managed to keep all projects in Pakistan open. 

We maintained our reproductive, neonatal and paediatric care services at five different locations in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. We also assisted local communities, Afghan refugees and people in border areas, running emergency obstetric services and nutrition programmes, and ensuring the treatment and referral of critical trauma patients. 

We continued to operate our cutaneous leishmaniasis programme in these two provinces, and opened two new satellite clinics in Peshawar and Bannu districts.  

At the end of January, we handed over the last of our activities at Timurgara District Headquarters Hospital to the Department of Health. Since 2008, we had provided emergency, obstetric and neonatal care. 

In Karachi, Sindh province, where we run a hepatitis C project in the informal settlement of Machar Colony, we started supporting COVID-19 vaccination activities in September. We opened a vaccination centre in the rural health centre of Sher Shah and sent a mobile vaccination clinic to several other sites in Kemari district. In Balochistan, we supported the Ministry of Health by providing staff, transporting test samples to laboratories and donating personal protective equipment (PPE). We also donated drugs, medical equipment and PPE to local health authorities and hospitals in four other provinces.  

In Gujranwala, Punjab province, we opened a new project in November to diagnose and treat people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, implementing a decentralised approach, which enables patients to receive care nearer their homes.  

Throughout the year, MSF made multiple donations to hospitals and disaster management authorities, and assisted with responses to outbreaks of measles and dengue. We also donated 500 relief kits to people affected by the earthquake in Harnai, Balochistan.
 

In 2021
 
Pakistan floods - North Sindh
Pakistan

Pakistan flood response is still “an emergency”

Press Release 9 Jan 2023
 
Non Food Items distribution
Pakistan

People remain stranded as winter approaches flood-hit Pakistan

Project Update 16 Dec 2022
 
Pakistan floods emergency DADU 11
Pakistan

Seven weeks of emergency response in Pakistan

Project Update 14 Oct 2022
 
Floodings: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa E-Response
Pakistan

Responding in the aftermath of the Pakistan floods

Project Update 23 Sep 2022
 
DMJ Assessment
Pakistan

Five questions about the destructive floods in Pakistan

Interview 12 Sep 2022
 
Camps Dadu District
Pakistan

Five things to know about the devastating floods in Pakistan

Project Update 1 Sep 2022