By Aazer Durrani | Head of Marketing
The World Bank (WB) has estimated that poverty in Pakistan has increased from 4.4 per cent to 5.4 per cent. More than two million people have fallen below the poverty line in Pakistan.
People living in poverty has increased from 69 million in June 2018 to 87 million currently, indicating 26% increase in poverty or an addition of 18 million people.
Eight million people have already been added to the ranks of the poor. It has been projected that 10 million more people will slip below the poverty line by the end of the current fiscal year.
The situation is very alarming due to an economic growth rate that is close to the population growth rate and an exponential increase in prices of perishable food items.
More than 40% of households suffered from moderate to severe food insecurity. The situation has further worsened since July 2021 as a result of the pandemic crisis i.e. fifth wave of COVID19. As the economy has shrunk, the rate of unemployment and poverty has risen. The worst affected are the poorest segment of the population, who are more likely to be wage labourers, peasant farmers, women, and children.
NUR Foundation took an initiative in 1985 and started a program known as NUR Community Outreach Program (NCOP). The purpose was to serve the community in various sectors including, health, education and employment. Additionally, various programs under the aegis of NCOP are working to ameliorate poverty. One such program is NUR Sandooq which not only is providing food to the poor but also focuses on providing clothes. The idea behind it was to make storage facilities for donated clothing in all the elite areas of Lahore and to encourage people to donate apparel items for the underserved community. In execution of the plan, one dedicated room known as Sandooq is placed in Fatima Memorial Hospital, Shadman Lahore. The donors often come and drop off apparel items in the Sandooq and those items are then distributed among the underprivileged people living in the backward areas of Lahore including Malikpur, Nainsukh, Lakhodair and Gajjumata.
Our significant number of students enrolled at NUR Foundation schools are from impoverished backgrounds and are unable to afford two basic meals of the day let alone clothing items. Therefore, we at Fatima Memorial Hospital wish to increase our donor base in the future which would help us in meeting the clothing needs of the children at NUR schools.
Our valued donors have always supported the cause and we urge you to keep supporting us so that maximum number of families can benefit.
Thank you
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