![[Nepal] Mother and child - survivors of the floods. [Date picture taken: 09/06/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/2006969.jpg.webp?itok=NSVsSEUi "Mother and child - survivors of the floods")
Maternal and child mortality could rise in flood-hit western Nepal if the health care of women and children is not prioritised, the United Nations Population Fund Agency (UNFPA) said on Wednesday.
Flash floods caused by monsoon rains killed at least 50 people in western Nepal last week. Tens of thousands have been left homeless and food stocks were destroyed in the Bardiya, Banke and Achham districts about 800 km west of the capital, Kathmandu, according to the Nepal Red Cross (NRCS).
The government estimates that the flooding has affected nearly 50,000 people, killed nearly 2,000 animals and destroyed more than 10,000 mt of food.
UNFPA said it was concerned that the immediate relief operation had yet to prioritise reproductive health care.
"Pregnant women are stranded. Their urgent needs have to be given top priority,” Safieh Andersen, deputy resident representative of UNFPA, said.
Andersen cautioned that failure would risk increased maternal and child mortality. The agency had sent doctors and nurses to help and provided care packages for 700 women.
“During such emergency situations, the reproductive health care does not fall in the immediate relief [effort] but we hope to immediately expand our services for them,” Andersen said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said pockets of the affected population had not received aid due to inaccessibility and resources being stretched. It said more than 20 aid agencies had provided support.
Government bodies in Bardiya complained that they had not received enough help despite suffering the most from the flooding.
“We still do not have adequate manpower and resources to reach the most remote areas and carry out more relief work,” Ram Shanker Deep, chief of the Bardiya District Health Office, said.
Deep told the Ministry of Health that more medical help was needed.
Rajendra Kandel, from the committee coordinating relief in Bardiya's Guleriya village, said agencies had been promising resources but most of the funds had not arrived.
The International Red Cross (IRC), NRCS, International Nepal Fellowship and UNFPA had started organising mobile health camps and treated hundreds of people, OCHA said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had also dispatched its medical team from Kathmandu to help assess the situation.
Flash floods caused by monsoon rains killed at least 50 people in western Nepal last week. Tens of thousands have been left homeless and food stocks were destroyed in the Bardiya, Banke and Achham districts about 800 km west of the capital, Kathmandu, according to the Nepal Red Cross (NRCS).
The government estimates that the flooding has affected nearly 50,000 people, killed nearly 2,000 animals and destroyed more than 10,000 mt of food.
UNFPA said it was concerned that the immediate relief operation had yet to prioritise reproductive health care.
"Pregnant women are stranded. Their urgent needs have to be given top priority,” Safieh Andersen, deputy resident representative of UNFPA, said.
Andersen cautioned that failure would risk increased maternal and child mortality. The agency had sent doctors and nurses to help and provided care packages for 700 women.
“During such emergency situations, the reproductive health care does not fall in the immediate relief [effort] but we hope to immediately expand our services for them,” Andersen said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said pockets of the affected population had not received aid due to inaccessibility and resources being stretched. It said more than 20 aid agencies had provided support.
Government bodies in Bardiya complained that they had not received enough help despite suffering the most from the flooding.
“We still do not have adequate manpower and resources to reach the most remote areas and carry out more relief work,” Ram Shanker Deep, chief of the Bardiya District Health Office, said.
Deep told the Ministry of Health that more medical help was needed.
Rajendra Kandel, from the committee coordinating relief in Bardiya's Guleriya village, said agencies had been promising resources but most of the funds had not arrived.
The International Red Cross (IRC), NRCS, International Nepal Fellowship and UNFPA had started organising mobile health camps and treated hundreds of people, OCHA said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had also dispatched its medical team from Kathmandu to help assess the situation.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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