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Success Story
Displaced by the
Taliban, camp residents
receive critical health
services from USAID
Displaced Pakistanis Benefit From USAID Clinic
Photo: JSI
A USAID-supported program conducted
medical consultations for more than
50,000 people displaced by the Taliban
from Swat Valley.
“No words can express
the joy I felt when my son
opened his eyes,” said
Rauf, the boy’s father. “My
small gift cannot to begin
to express my gratitude to
USAID for setting up this
clinic.”
In May 2009, a team of USAID-supported health specialists in the Swat
Valley received a curt message from the Taliban: Get out or expect to be
beheaded. The health specialists were working to improve access and
quality of health services in the region, but they soon found themselves
among the exodus of more than two million people from the valley.
“We had to leave our office with little notice. When we arrived, our sister
project was already operating in the area, so we went to work with
them,” said Amhed Nasir, a project officer with the USAID-supported
initiative that focuses specifically on health of mothers and newborns.
Within five days, the new teams joined forces with partners already
operating in the districts to provide needed relief to the overwhelmed
healthcare system. The first priority was to find a suitable place to care
for the expectant mothers among the 300,000 camp dwellers.
“Women in labor were lying on the bare ground at the camp in
Charsadda,” said Dr. Shuiab Khan, a program director for the USAID-supported
initiative, who coordinated the effort.
Project staff worked with the government and other aid agencies to
supply the displaced with mattresses for the mothers, mother-and-baby
kits, food, cooking pots and utensils, latrines, and clean water. The
government identified four temporary birthing centers, including a sugar
mill that had been closed for 30 years, an abandoned health center, and
a vacant house.
The USAID project prepared and staffed the facilities with trained birth
attendants. Expectant mothers were moved inside, and revolving shifts
treated up to 400 patients a day. Because the majority of the displaced
stayed with host families, two mobile medical camps were established,
which together treated nearly 52,000 people a week, assisting with
birthing, pre- and post-natal care, vaccinations, and family planning
counseling.
For children under five, life in the camps during the hottest part of the
year was especially harsh. Skin ailments and dysentery were rampant;
the medical camps supplied up to 60 intravenous drips a day for children
to combat dehydration. One day, USAID project staff noticed a young
couple weeping over a three-month-old boy, certain he had died from
the heat. Doctors were able to resuscitate and rehydrate the boy. Within
20 minutes, he opened his eyes and started to cry. Within two hours,
the family was on their way back to the camp. The next day, the parents
returned with the best gift they could muster: two hen’s eggs.
“No words can express the joy I felt when my son opened his eyes,”
said Rauf, the boy’s father. “My small gift cannot to begin to express my
gratitude to USAID for setting up this clinic.”
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