Pakistan: Mothers in the frontlines of climate change
Nine months after devastating floods, many areas remain underwater in Pakistan, and an impending rainy season is quickly approaching. As threatening heat waves advance, it is the mothers and children on the frontlines of climate change who take the heaviest toll.
The patio of Kamli's house is the only place to take respite against the scorching heat. Its walls were rebuilt after the devastating floods that swamped Pakistan's village. Kamli lost her home and her only source of income — cotton picking on the once fertile lands. She survived for more than two months in temporary camps set up on the roads in Umarkot in the Sindh Province.
Despite her youth, Noor, 22, has lost two babies. Her first baby passed away due to complications during her first pregnancy, and her second child was only three days old when she died during the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in August 2022. Noor is now four months pregnant and prays that her third child will survive the harsh weather conditions of the Asian country.
Benaziz, 30, mother of six, stares blankly at the standing water around Balouch Zardari — a village in the Sindh province. She recounts the hardships of her life before the rains. “We did not have access to drinking water, and our children were hungry due to the lack of food. Now everything is more difficult. My husband works when he can in the banana plantations and earns around 200 or 300 PKR (3.50 USD a day). With that, we must feed six children. We can only afford bread and a little chili for one meal a day. We have more mosquitoes and diseases, and the health center is 15 kilometers away. We are fighting to survive. Day after day,” she accounts through her tears.
Dr. Ayesha Jameel works as the head of the Kotla Eason Health Center in South Punjab Province. The activity in the small center is frantic, and despite the heat, about twenty mothers, many of them pregnant, wait their turn while fanning themselves with their veils.
Shahida, has four boys and two girls. She almost lost her 10-month-old little girl, Ayat, during the rains of 2022. She had to be evacuated in an ambulance from her flooded house, with the help of her husband, to give birth.
The impact of climate change, including floods and heat waves, is threatening the health of mothers and children in Pakistan. In Pakistan, pregnant workers like Noor, face the increased risk of heat stress, as physical labor in high temperatures can require greater physical exertion and therefore increase the core body temperature — putting the mother and baby’s life in danger.
Story:
https://elpais.com/planeta-futuro/2023-08-09/madres-de-pakistan-en-primera-linea-de-la-crisis-climatica-vivimos-con-la-ansiedad-de-no-saber-cuando-sera-el-proximo-desastre.html
https://www.unicef.org/stories/receding-waters-reveal-scars-climate-change-pakistan
