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STORY: PAKISTAN / MALNUTRITION
TRT: 2.49
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SINDHI / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 4-21 JANUARY 2011, PAKISTAN
13 JANUARY 2011, KARACHI, SINDH PROVINCE
1. Med shot, inside tent in a camp for internally displaced people pregnant woman Kursheed, 23 years old, in last stages of labour
2. Med shot, inside tent Kursheed’s mother in law sitting next to birthing attendant
3. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Kursheed, mother to be:
“I have become very weak. There’s been no food. So where do I get the energy to push.”
19 JANUARY 2011, SHADAD KOT, NORTHERN SINDH PROVINCE
4. Close up, Saleem Babbar, aged 6 months, sitting on mother’s lap, in a UNICEF supported stabilization centre
5. Wide shot, mothers waiting at the centre
6. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Husna Babbar, mother:
“When my child gets sick, as a mother I feel a pain in my chest. Sometimes he is up sick all night, sneezing, burning with fever, breathing loud and fast. It worries me that his breathing is fast and loud. I don’t know why, and I don’t know what to do.”
7. Close up, Saleem
21 JANUARY 2011, JAKKAR PAKAKA VILLAGE, PUNJAB
8. Close up, Rehana aged six months. In a basic health unit
9. Med shot, medical staff measuring Rehana’s arm. When the tape measure goes into the red it proves she is severely malnourished
10. Close up, baby
11. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Aziz Mai, mother:
“My own health isn’t good enough. Whatever I eat or drink, I throw up, even if I take a drink of water, I throw up.”
14 JANUARY 2011, JAN MOHAMMED SHORO, SINDH PROVINCE
12. Tracking shot, IDP camp
13 JANUARY 2011, KARACHI, SINDH PROVINCE
13. Various shots, child in IDP camp tent
19 JANUARY 2011, SHADAD KOT, SINDH PROVINCE
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Kristen Elsby, UNICEF Pakistan Chief of Communication:
“What we’re seeing now is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Millions of children are greatly at risk of malnutrition babies are dying.”
15. Various shots, babies
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Karen Allen, Deputy Representative UNICEF Pakistan:
“I haven’t seen levels of malnutrition this bad since the worst of the famine in Ethiopia, Darfur and Chad. It’s shocking, shockingly bad. It’s an underlying problem of extreme poverty and extremely low levels of education and extremely low levels of access to services. And the floods just pushed people over the edge. And it’s truly as bad as I’ve seen in the worst emergencies in the world.”
16 JANUARY 2011, THATTA HOSPITAL, SINDH
17. Various shots, child and grandmother at feeding centre
21 JANUARY 2011, JAKKAR PAKAKA, PUNJAB
18. Various shots, malnourished baby being measured
19. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Aziamai, mother:
“She used to be like the baby. But she was given medication and now she’s fine.”
14 JANUARY 2011, KARACHI, SINDH PROVINCE
20. Various shots, children and families in IDP camp
There is compelling evidence that malnutrition begins in the womb. Flood victim Khursheed is in the final stages of labour in a tent and a birthing attendant at her feet.
SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Khursheed, mother:
“I’ve been very weak, there’s no food. So where do I get the energy to push?”
Saleem Babbar, who’s been diagnosed as malnourished, was born on the day the floods came. His mother has been unable to breast feed. She has brought him to a UNICEF-supported stabilization centre, to try to save his life.
SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Husna Babbar, mother:
“When my child gets sick, as a mother I feel a pain in my chest. Sometimes he is up sick all night, sneezing, burning with fever, breathing loud and fast. It worries me that his breathing is fast and loud. I don’t know why, and I don’t know what to do.”
Rehana is having her arm measured so that the extent of her condition can be assessed and, hopefully, rectified. The tape goes into the red zone, which shows that she is severely malnourished.
Rehana is about the size of a normal newborn baby and weighs less than four kilos. But she’s six months old. One of her siblings has already died.
SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Aziamai, mother:
“My own health isn’t good enough. Whatever I eat or drink, I throw up, even if I take a drink of water, I throw up.”
Malnutrition has always been present in Pakistan, but the true scale of the problem has only surfaced now, because of the floods. A comprehensive survey in flood-affected areas suggests that one in five children is malnourished in Sindh province in the south of the country.
SOUNDBITE (English) Kristen Elsby, UNICEF Pakistan Chief of Communication:
“What we’re seeing now is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions right now. Millions of children are greatly at risk of malnutrition babies are dying and mothers to be are also greatly at risk of dying during childbirth.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Karen Allen, Deputy Representative UNICEF Pakistan:
“I haven’t seen levels of malnutrition this bad since the worst of the famine in Ethiopia, Darfur and Chad. It’s shocking, shockingly bad. It’s an underlying problem of extreme poverty and extremely low levels of education and extremely low levels of access to services. And the floods just pushed people over the edge. And it’s truly as bad as I’ve seen in the worst emergencies in the world.”
This little boy, Ayaz, has a chance of survival. He’s in a special care unit and his grandmother is feeding him a high nutrition formula which should help him gain weight.
He looks like a new born baby. In fact, he’s 12 months old.
Now that Rehana’s condition has been identified, her chances of making it have improved.
She will be given the nutrient-packed formula called Plumpynut.
Look at Rehana’s feet and compare them to those of her three year old sister Shebanna, whose health was also restored with Plumpynut.
SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Aziamai, mother
“She used to be like the baby. But she was given medication and now she’s fine.”
Although the waters have subsided, many flood-affected Pakistanis are still living in squalid tent camps. They have lost their possessions and means of earning a living. The international humanitarian community’s disaster appeal only generated half the two billion dollars needed.
There aren’t enough supplies to go around. And so many mouths to feed. Khursheed gave birth to a baby girl. She looked healthy. But what chance does she have, in a land of poverty and hunger?
