Healthcare for women and children in remote mountain regions

Pakistan is one of the countries with the lowest density of medical professionals per inhabitant. In the Lower Kohistan region, the situation is particularly precarious:

• There is only one male doctor for every 56,000 people - and not a single female doctor in the entire district.
• Most of the villages are located in mountainous areas that are difficult to access. Many villages can only be reached via narrow mountain paths; in an emergency, help is often impossible.
• The roads to health facilities are long, dangerous and often impassable. More than half of the health stations have not been rebuilt since the 2022 floods.
• Women are often not allowed to travel unaccompanied, which makes medical treatment even more difficult.
• Child and maternal mortality rates are well above the national average. Most women do not receive a check-up during pregnancy. Births usually take place at home and without specialist staff.
• Diseases that would be easily treatable endanger the lives of families due to a lack of care.
• Many children barely survive the first years of life: half are unvaccinated, almost two thirds suffer from growth disorders, over a quarter are underweight - and almost all newborns receive no vital care after birth.

Pregnant women and young mothers in particular are at the mercy of these conditions. Simple infections, complications during birth or malnutrition can quickly become life-threatening without help.