JICA extends support to flood-affected districts of Punjab, KP

• JICA extended support to the flood-affected districts of Punjab and KP
• The support will benefit 80,000 families including women and children
• Japan announced grant assistance of $38.9 million to Pakistan this month

ISLAMABAD: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Pakistan Office extended support to the flood-affected districts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces by providing 9,000 mosquito nets, 80,000 ORS and 400,000 water purification tablets.

On the request of Government of Punjab and KP, the Government of Japan and JICA Pakistan Office decided to extend support to the worst affected districts of both provinces, said a statement by the Embassy of Japan in Pakistan.

In Punjab, the target districts are Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, while in KP, the districts of Kohistan, DI Khan, Tank, Nowshera and Charsada were targeted. The expected beneficiaries of this support are around 80,000 families with pregnant or lactating women and children under five.

According to the Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA) on Pakistan Floods 2022, around 650,000 pregnant women are facing challenges in getting access to maternal services, nearly 4 million children lack access to health services, and substantial increase in communicable diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, dengue and cholera has been observed.

In this regard, particular attention should be given to pregnant and lactating women and children under five, the statement said. It added that JICA support will help these vulnerable segments of society and help in reducing outbreaks of communicable diseases.

JICA is utilizing its ongoing technical cooperation projects ‘The Project for Strengthening Maternal and Newborn Health Care in Punjab’ and ‘The Project for Strengthening Continuum of Care for Mothers, Newborn and Child Health in Primary Health Care Settings in KP’ to provide support to flood-affected districts of both provinces.

The Government of Japan has already provided $7 million as an emergency grant to address the immediate impact of the floods in September 2022.

In addition, the Japanese Government announced another grant assistance of $38.9 million to Pakistan as part of Japan’s supplementary budget to deliver life-saving aid to the flood victims on December 2.

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