Pak Floods: Female survivors struggle for hygiene products, medical needs

Peshawar [Pakistan], September 2 : As relief efforts for Pakistan flood victims continue, women and their needs have taken a backseat as many of them are forced to live under an open sky and feminine hygiene products and toilets are not a part of the conversation about relief items.
Menstruating and pregnant women are in a miserable state as they have no access to menstrual products or any place to defecate. The relief efforts for flood victims take centre stage the go-to items being asked for tents and dry groceries but many seemed to have missed that women are victims as well, according to the Express Tribune.
For instance, Tahira, a pregnant woman stressed the fact that women in flood-affected areas have hygiene and medical needs but due to heavy floods, there is no food or any other facilities available.
"We have already lost our homes. Now we do not have menstrual products or any place to defecate. This is a truly miserable time for women," the Express Tribune reported quoting Mai Khairan, a flood-affected victim.
Another case in Nowshera of a 60-year-old flood victim, Hajra Bibi, whose daughter-in-law is pregnant and they live under a makeshift tent. She urged the government to send lady doctors to the camps so that needs of the women were taken care of in a timely manner.
"There is no food or other facilities, especially for pregnant women. I am afraid that we might lose our daughter and her baby if this situation lingers," Hajra said.
In another statement, Saima, an affectee from Sindh who had to evacuate her home said that men could defecate anywhere they wanted to but women have no safe space which is why she requested the government and welfare organisations to make arrangements for temporary toilets immediately.
Responding to Saima's requirements, a female volunteer, Anees Imran said that in her relief efforts she had witnessed that due to the non-availability of covered toilets, women had to go too far to desolate places to defecate.
The flash floods have badly impacted 80 districts of the country and the death toll from floods in Pakistan has reached near 1,200 as 19 more people lost their lives in the last 24 hours.
According to medical experts, the most common disease amongst the women flood survivors is Urinary tract infection followed by other infections.
"The most common disease currently amongst female flood victims is urinary tract infection," Dr Zainab, who is serving in a flood relief camp in Nowshera said adding that women are also struggling because of a lack of availability of sanitary pads, reported the Express Tribune.
"The government must provide women with feminine hygiene products immediately as it has serious repercussions for their health," the doctor said.
Since mid-June, 937 people have died from severe rain and flooding across the South Asian country, according to the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
The southern province of Sindh, which has been badly hit by the flooding, has asked for 1 million tents, while nearby Balochistan province has requested 100,000 tents. Since mid-June, when the monsoon began, more than 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) of road, 130 bridges and 495,000 homes have been damaged, according to NDMA's last situation report.
As districts in Pakistan continue to be affected by massive monsoon rainfall and unprecedented levels of flooding, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of significant public health threats facing affected populations, including the risk of further spread of water and vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
Around 888 health facilities have been damaged in the country, of which 180 are completely damaged, leaving millions of people lacking access to health care and medical treatment, as reported in many affected districts.