Pakistan

Pakistan has experienced a steady rise in destabilizing socio-political, economic, and environmental forces over the past decade that have torn at the very fabric of this fragile nation. Behind these seismic geopolitical forces lies a backdrop of chronic and acute undernutrition, widespread food insecurity, and recurring natural disasters that routinely displace millions of people, destroy homes and vital infrastructure, and disrupt countless lives and livelihoods.

In June 2014, we launched an emergency response to assist the 800,000 displaced persons fleeing from North Waziristan in northwest Pakistan to neighboring provinces, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Our programs included improved access to water and sanitation, nutrition treatment, food security and livelihoods, and cash for work programs. Overall, including this emergency, our teams have supported a total of 728,150 individuals in Pakistan in 2014.

Prior to this, we were there when an unprecedented natural disaster took place in 2010 with monsoon rains overwhelming the Indus river banks and causing some of the most extensive flooding in Pakistan’s history, destroying homes, damaging roads and bridges, and affecting over 20 million people -- 10 million of whom required immediate humanitarian assistance. Subsequent flooding in 2011 hampered recovery efforts, further crippling infrastructure, tainting water supplies, wiping out harvests, and otherwise assailing the country’s economic stability by taxing power grids, raising food and fuel prices, and exacerbating long-standing internal conflicts.

Action Against Hunger mounted responses to both emergencies while maintaining prior programs in nutrition, food security and water and sanitation across Pakistan. Immediately after the floods, our priority was to contain the spread of waterborne illnesses while working to restore water networks and distribution systems. As a result of our work, nearly 300,000 people were provided with access to clean drinking water after the flood.

En respuesta a las necesidades nutricionales generalizadas de Pakistán, nuestros equipos han ideado una serie de iniciativas destinadas a erradicar la desnutrición. Nuestros esfuerzos holísticos tienen mucho que ofrecer a las comunidades vulnerables de Pakistán, la integración de la prevención y tratamiento de la desnutrición severa con programas de seguridad alimentaria y medios de vida diseñados para garantizar el acceso a los alimentos y los ingresos en el largo plazo.