ISLAMABAD: A senior official from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) visited a basic health unit (BHU) in district Peshawar to talk to Afghan refugee women and girls and hear from them about quality of services provided to them and whether they faced any challenges in accessing reproductive health care.

As part of her mission, Ashoka Arakaki visited the UNFPA-supported BHU. Ms Arakaki met with midwives, psychologists and social mobilisers who are attending deliveries, providing psycho-social support and referrals to GBV survivors and at-risk groups, and are raising awareness among communities about available services. She appreciated their commitment towards people in need of help in remote areas.

BHU Phandu, which functions round the clock, is one of the eight government health facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where UNFPA, with support of its partner Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), is providing comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) services and psychosocial support, multi-sectoral referrals and community mobilisation services in refugee hosting communities.

The BHU receives around 1,600 out patients every month and one delivery is attended every day on average. The psychologist conducts counselling sessions with 15 to 20 women every month on average.

Ms Arakaki also met with representatives of UNFPA’s partner organisations including Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), department of health, Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) and Prime Foundation to discuss the progress about existing interventions and explore ways of how partnerships could be scaled up.

“We must be accountable for women and girls who suffer most during disasters and emergencies. Rights and health of women and girls are at the heart of UNFPA’s work. We will only be able to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030 if we continue to work in partnerships through innovative and multi-sectoral approaches. I am certain, that our partnerships in the province will grow stronger owing to our common vision of serving and meeting the health and protection needs of women and girls in refugee and hosting communities,” she said.

Representatives of UNFPA and the department of health signed documents for the establishment of four fully-equipped and prefabricated health spaces, labour room and out-patient department (OPD) unit for the rugged region of Tirah Valley in the newly merged districts of KP province to cater to the needs of temporarily displaced women and girls who are now returning to their homes.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2022