Flood 2022-Pakistan Needs Support

Pak Mission Society – GlobalGiving Report

Name of organization - Pak Mission Society

Donor - GlobalGiving

Legal status

• Registration act XXI of 1860 KPK Reg: # 477/5/5417
• Economic Affairs Division - Islamabad
• Permission from Deputy Commissioner Sindh
• District Health Officer Sindh
• Local Administration Sindh

Project Activity:  Food Packages Distribution  (28 Most Deserving Households)

Target Union Councils

• Hatgyngi Jgiru,
• Dguktar,
• Nabi Sar,
• Thar,
• NawabAbad. 

Reporting Period

April to July 2023

Title of Report

FLOOD 2022 – PAKISTAN NEEDS SUPPORT

About Pak Mission Society:

Pak Mission Society (PMS) is a national relief and development organization established in 2004 and registered on 13th February 2008 under the Societies’ Registration act XXI of 1860 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Economic Affairs Division (EAD), Government of Pakistan in November 2017.  PMS was founded by a group of Christian professionals whose collective vision is to bring hope and love by responding to human sufferings and disasters through emergency relief efforts and delivering long-term rehabilitation and development programme.  Since its establishment, PMS is serving unreached and underprivileged communities in impoverished areas regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, class, religion and social background.

Executive Summary:

Pak Mission Society (PMS) carried out relief responses for the flood survivors of the 2022 floods in Sindh, who were in terrible health and nutritional needs. The displaced populations ended up in a serious shortage of food supplies due to the washed away means of livelihoods, non-availability of food stuff and if available was out of reach as flooded communities lacked financial resources or buying power. PMS generated resources for life-saving needs, helped communities overcome shock, and stress to some extent in difficult situation when unhygienic living conditions, caused by the stagnant waters, which worsened day after day.  In the 2^nd quarter of 2023 PMS managed to provide free medical camp (healthcare services), as an additional support to the flood affected households who were initially short-listed for food-ration packages to improve their nutritional needs, in Sanghar district of Sindh, Pakistan.   

Project Objective:

• To provide food-ration packages to the most deserving families and improve their nutritional needs.
• To provide emergency health care services to women and girls in the flood affected areas in Sindh. 

Implementation Methodology:   As per the Sindh Chief Minister’s directive, and based on the area priority analysis of Pak Mission Society, organized free-medical camps for the worst-hit districts i.e. Sanghar and Umerkot in Sindh, province of Pakistan (To augment food-ration response supported by GlobalGiving).  PMS engaged local community leaders and elders in identifying the most deserving 28 families, among these 20% were women-headed or widows. While other households critically lacked financial backstopping and lost everything tangible they had.  Target communities were mobilized to encourage women and girls to come forward to discuss health issues with the female healthcare workers at the camp. Females in the reproductive age group were facilitated as per their needs.

Activity:  PMS distributed food-ration packages to the 28 most deserving households in Sanghar (Sindh), Pakistan, and over 200 beneficiaries were able to have food stock for two weeks.  While organizing six medical camps in poorly attended areas/villages including Hatgyngi Jgiru, Dguktar, Nabi Sar, Thar, and Nawab-Abad.  The target populations were diagnosed with respiratory complications, skin diseases, diarrhea, dietary and digestion issues, joint pain, oral infections, etc.  The free medical camps were augmented to support the stressed households to avail critical medical care in the most difficult circumstances free of charge.  The medical camps offered consultations, first-aid, life-saving medicines, hepatitis screenings, blood pressure checkups, etc. 

Challenges:

• The affected areas were heavily flooded and access to beneficiaries was difficult or it was equally hard for women and children to reach out for life-saving services both healthcare and food-ration packages due to poor transport and road damages.
• Special arrangements were made to facilitate elderly and women who lacked means of transportation to arrive at distribution and free medical camp sites.
• PMS medical team selected, poorly covered areas with consultations with the district administration and community leaders. 
• Adequate awareness messages were share on communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The Lesson Learned:

• There is an urgent need for sensitization about preventative healthcare, and rationalization about the use of medicines to prevent self-medication. 
• The growing malnutrition requires immediate attention and there should be a planned response towards improving livelihoods through indigenous skills, restoring agro-based value-chain, and unskilled labor avenues.  

Co-ordination with Government:

PMS has established long-standing goodwill relationships with the district administration and health departments at the provincial level and district levels. Hence, prior consultations and selection of target areas were prioritized on the recommendations of government stakeholders, to avoid duplications and maintain a well-balanced response with inclusivity at the grassroots level.  

Co-ordination with other Projects

PMS generated its resources for the food-ration packages for the flood-hit areas in Sindh, Pakistan, and had carried out a number of food ration distributions reaching out to more than 100 households, most impoverished and needy, benefiting 1000 individuals to date.  Ever since the floods of 2022 the situation of stagnant water continued to deteriorate which caused serious health ailments for the residents, which included skin, respiratory, and digestive diseases.  In order to manage the efficient use of available limited resources, it was most advisable to set up free medical camps for flood-affected families who were also part of the food-ration packages beneficiary headcount.