Europa Newswire
November 5, 2009
By Amy Lieberman
Trying to mitigate armed political conflict’s effects on women and children in Pakistan, UNICEF is holding up a strong front in the South Asian nation, creating schools and providing displaced persons with access to clean water, basic sanitation and medical access.
While UNICEF is not able to reach people still in South Waziristan, a border region and hotbed of extremist activity, it is aiding Internally Displaced Persons in surrounding regions.
"Under difficult circumstances, UNICEF continues its work to help vulnerable children and women displaced by the violence and living in difficult circumstances in South Waziristan," Patrick McCormick, emergency coordinators officer for UNICEF, told Europa Newswire.
With the help of its on-the-ground partners, UNICEF has provided 45,000 IDPS with safe water and 35,000 with hygiene kits and water storage containers; it has also immunized 180,000 children from measles.
UNICEF also continues to support children affected by the devastating 2005 earthquake, which destroyed hundreds of schools. The organization has constructed 100 new “earthquake-safe, child-friendly” schools, and plans to complete an additional 186 by the end of 2010. The initiatives have thus far placed 13,000 children back in school.
“Our real aim is to ensure that children receive the best education possible,” said Syed Fawad Ali Shah, UNICEF Pakistan Emergency Education Officer, in a UNICEF press release. “Teachers at the schools have been trained in child-friendly teaching methods that promote interactive learning and ban corporal punishment, and that support and empower children as they learn.”
Photo by: Master Sgt. Sarah Webb. Combined Joint Task Force - 82 PAO.
