We have a strong portfolio of health, education and microfinance programs.  We continue to address needs of Afghan children and families who remain in Pakistan because of Afghanistan's insecurity and the lack of a viable economy in their communities. 

Save the Children also is working in areas shattered by the 2005 earthquake to help residents build homes and "build back better" the health and education infrastructure. 

Challenges for Children

Poverty levels have decreased by 10 percent since 2001 and over 80 percent of children ages 5-9 are enrolled in school. Yet life for millions of the poorest children and women remains one of hardship. 

Many families cannot afford basic health care or education; families also do not send girls to school because there are few female teachers or the distance between home and school is too great.  The 2005 earthquake destroyed already-scarce health and education services and families lost homes, livestock and incomes.

Numbers at a Glance

Over 25,000 women die each year due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth and about 300,000 infants (including 160,000 newborns) die in their first year.

Only one in four births is attended by a skilled assistant.

One in four families struggles to survive on $1 a day or less.

Prior to the earthquake, the Allai Valley had no female doctors and only two trained birth attendants to serve a rural population of over 130,000 people. Male literacy rates there are less than 10 percent, and rates for women are less than 3 percent.
Our Response

Save the Children's Pakistan Country Office improves the health, education and livelihoods of vulnerable children and families in least-developed areas.  In health, we seek to reduce deaths of mothers and children and improve the chances of newborns surviving their first month. 

In education, our goal is to increase children's access to and the quality of educational opportunities.  We partner with a local microfinance organization to provide financial services to vulnerable families in six districts of Punjab Province and help families affected by the earthquake recover their livelihoods.  Save the Children also is focusing resources on emergency preparedness.

Education

Save the Children works in districts with some of the lowest education statistics, including Batagram in North West Frontier Province and Killa Saifullah in Balochistan.  We help open schools that have been closed, initiate school repair and construction projects and have trained and mobilized school management committees to implement over 1,400 school improvement projects.

Health

Large-scale initiatives define Save the Children's health portfolio. We mobilize communities to address local health needs and build the capacity of health care providers.

Through the multi-year Saving Newborn Lives program, we seek to reduce child mortality while developing and promoting replicable, sustainable child health strategies.  Through the Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns project, we are building the capacity of health providers in 10 districts and mobilizing communities in six districts 

And through a new project in the remote Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), we are improving child health services by strengthening providers of care and raising local awareness of the need for child health care.

Economic Opportunities

In partnership with Asasah, a local micro-finance institution, Save the Children provides poor families 
Waseem Iqbal, aged 18 months, from Bareela, Khanpur, is a beneficiary of Save the Children's Haripur District Reproductive Health Program, in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. Photographed by Ayesha Vellani.
 
with access to microfinance services and ensures that credit is given directly to the female head of the household, allowing her greater say in family finances.

Helping Children Survive and Thrive After a Disaster

Pakistan is prone to natural disasters, with the risk of earthquakes in the northern and central areas, and floods and drought common in the south. Save the Children can respond quickly to meet both the immediate and longer-term needs of children affected by disasters.

Planning for the Future

Save the Children is committed to reconstruction and the development of child- and women-focused services in the earthquake-affected Batagram District, with a special focus on the Allai Valley.

We will pay close attention to affected families' access to food and children's nutrition, as the earthquake destroyed the local agricultural and market infrastructure.

Restoring family livelihoods and ensuring that the most vulnerable families - those headed by women, disabled and the elderly - have permanent shelters also will continue.

We also will sustain education and health programs and strengthen the skills of our partners and the Pakistani government, through both tested and new strategies.

Save the Children will continue to support our microfinance partner so that it can provide economic opportunities to the poorest families.