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| Flood-hit areas in Pakistan: 650,000 women need access to maternal health services: UN |
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 At a briefing to share women and child health and protection update, the deputy head of UNFPA and officials from Pakistan Humanitarian Forum and National Humanitarian Network said that as many as 73,000 women had to deliver babies during September 2022. Malnourished pregnant women are also at risk of giving birth to low birth weight babies who will be malnourished. Women already have insufficient food and water to consume but in this case they do not eat and drink whole day just to avoid going for defecating. This is also creating malnutrition in women. The situation of pregnant women is worse. There are no arrangements in most of the camps. The floods doubled the protection risks for women and children. Family separation, theft, Gender based violence, rapes—women and girls remain vulnerable. More than half of the women in Sindh and KP have insufficient access to latrines. Women and girls do not have access to menstrual hygiene items and this is causing sever issues of maintaining their hygiene. In some places at Sindh where the hygiene kits / dignity kits have been distributed, there is no mechanism of disposal. The World Health Organization expressed deep concerns about the potential for a "second disaster in Pakistan: a wave of diseases and deaths" following the unprecedented floods and mostly it will affect women and children. Floods have triggered the dire need of protection mechanisms and restoration of the security and dignity of the displaced women.
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| Unicef warning on acute malnutrition in kids |
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 The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has warned that health facilities, in the aftermath of the devastating floods, are reporting alarming levels of acute malnutrition among children in the affected areas, and called for support from the international community to reach over seven million children, adolescent girls and women who are in need of nutritious services. While more than one in nine children under five admitted to health facilities in the flood-affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan were found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition, over one million people are in need of safe drinking water and over 6m in need of sanitation services, the UN agency said in a statement. Unicef also called for integrating nutrition into government's health delivery services and increased allocation of government funding for nutrition in the long term. Of the over 22,000 children screened by health professionals since September this year at health facilities in flood-affected areas, more than 2,630 were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition, or more than one in nine children.
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| International conference on "Tobacco Control in Pakistan and Way forward" in Istanbul, Turkey |
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 SPARC's team participated in an international conference on "Tobacco Control in Pakistan and Way forward" organized by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) in Istanbul, Turkey.
SPARC shared its progress throughout the campaign year e.g. Role of Government Officials for Tobacco Control in Pakistan, Synopsis of tobacco control- globally and in Pakistan, tobacco control- Challenges and Opportunities.
The participation of "New Voices" - Identification and Ways to Engage Children & Youth, Sustainability of Tobacco Control in Pakistan, developing Political consensus for Tobacco Control Policy and TAPS- Fulfilling requirements under FCTC guidelines.
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| Round Table Discussion on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants |
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 SPARC participated in a discussion with NGOs and Government Departments as part of 2022 National Awareness Campaign on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants. The objective was to identify the challenges and explore the solutions and possibilities of collaboration |
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| Coordination with Ministry of Human rights |
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 Along with other civil society partners, SPARC has been involved with MoHR for the strengthening of a functional child protection mechanism in Islamabad since long. The organization played its role in supporting MoHR team in legal interventions, advocating for the enhancement of referral services, capacity building of relevant departments/members.
This time the team is passionate to support the Ministry in drafting roles and responsibilities/TORs for child protection committees. SPARC Training and Program Development actively participated in the validation workshop conducted by Ministry of Human Rights. Implementing team acknowledged and incorporated SPARC's recommendations in improving the communication training manuals. |
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| Celebration of International Girl Child Day 2022 |
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 SPARC celebrated #DayoftheGirl International Girl Child Day with female students of schools of Machar Colony Karachi. Project intends to improve the educational facilities and ensure easy access for girls towards mainstream education and empowerment. Team is passionate to apply effective community mobilization, youth engagement, capacity building and skill enhancement through various interesting interventions in project areas
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| Participation in training on ICT-Child Protection and Case Management Mechanism conducted by OPM and UNICEF |
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 Being one of the technical partner of Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR), SPARC participated in the capacity building activity conducted by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) with support of UNICEF. Purpose of training was to enhance the capacity of MoHR and relevant civil society organizations towards strengthening of Child protection mechanisms and effective implementation of ICT Child Protection Act 2020. SPARC is passionate to support the ministry, relevant departments, and all other partners who have the will, capacity and resources to implement child protection related interventions in Pakistan.  |
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| Consultation on National and Provincial Anti-Human Trafficking And Anti-Bonded Labour Monitoring Committees |
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 SPARC was invited as a panelist for discussion on National and Provincial Anti-Human Trafficking and Anti-Bonded Labour Monitoring Committees by UNODC. Sparc's Executive Director Asiya Arif elaborated on role of civil society in combating trafficking with a special focus on children. She further expressed her views about the crucial need of required legal amendments and effective implementation of relevant provincial laws.
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| Almost 1 million people die every year due to lead poisoning, with more children suffering long-term health effects |
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 Each year, an estimated 1 million people, die from lead poisoning. Millions more, many of them children, are exposed to low levels of lead causing lifelong health problems, including anaemia, hypertension, immunotoxicity and toxicity to the reproductive organs. The neurological and behavioural effects of lead could be irreversible.
There is no safe level of exposure to lead, which harms health, particularly children's health. UNICEF estimates that 1 in 3 children - up to 800 million globally - have blood lead levels at or above 5 µg/dl – and immediate global action is needed to address this problem
"Lead exposure is especially dangerous to children's developing brains and can result in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), attention span, impaired learning ability, and increased risk of behavioural problems." Says Dr Maria Nera, WHO Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. "This preventable harm to children's brains leads to a tragic loss of potential."
There are many sources of lead exposure in industrial settings like mining and smelting, recycling of electronic waste and lead-acid batteries, plumbing and ammunition in settings that could expose children and adolescents, particularly in developing economies. Exposure can also occur in non-industrial settings as lead paint can be found in homes, schools, hospitals, and playgrounds. Children can ingest flakes and dust, from lead-painted toys or surfaces or be exposed through lead-glazed ceramics and some traditional medicines and cosmetics.
WHO calls upon all countries to ban lead paint, identify and eliminate all sources of childhood lead exposure, educate the public regarding the dangers of misusing lead-containing products and to Say no to Lead poisoning. |
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| Staggering backsliding across women's, children's and adolescents' health revealed in new UN analysis |
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 A new UN report shows that women's and children's health has suffered globally, as the impacts of conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change converge with devastating effects on prospects for children, young people and women.
Data presented in the report show a critical regression across virtually every major measure of childhood well-being, and many key indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since the last Every Woman Every Child Progress Report published in 2020, food insecurity, hunger, child marriage, risks from intimate partner violence, and adolescent depression and anxiety have all increased.
An estimated 25 million children were un- or under-vaccinated in 2021 – 6 million more than in 2019 - increasing their risk of contracting deadly and debilitating diseases. Millions of children missed out on school during the pandemic, many for more than a year, while approximately 80% of children in 104 countries and territories experienced learning-loss because of school closures. Since the start of the global pandemic, 10.5 million children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19.
The report provides wide-ranging evidence that children and adolescents face wildly divergent chances of leading a healthy life simply based on where they are born, their exposure to conflict, and the economic circumstances of their families. |
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Our mailing address is: |
Follow SPARC on social media |
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House # 98, Street # 05, MPCHS, E-11/1, Islamabad
info@sparcpk.org | Tel # 051-2163011 |
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