FL OODS and monsoon rains are natural phenomena, but the disasters caused in the wake of these rains are often manmade. Pakistan has been confronting perhaps the worst humanitarian crisis in its history. A significant part of the country is inundated. People have lost everything, including homes, livelihoods and livestock.

It is estimated that the destruction brought by recent floods is bigger than that of the 2010 floods. Though people of every age group have been passing through the toughest days of their life,women and children are especially prone to climate change. Be it sweltering heat, changed patterns of rainf all or flash floods, women, undoubtedly, suffer the most.

Floods have denied basic human needs to a massive number of people. One can imagine that those working in flood-hit areas are f aced with a lot of negatives and are spendingenergy andresources on things that grab their attention, but the fact that no makeshif t washrooms have been built in the relief camps where the affected people are staying means a situation particularly grim for the womenfolk.

Similarly, the menstrual health of women has been largely ignored. It should be kept in mind that these days, women need extra hygiene care as any laxity may lead to contiguous infections. Despite the fact the climate change ministry is headed by a woman, no suf ficient measures have been taken to mitigate the hardships of women affected by the floods.

Though some women are collecting donations to provide sanitation items related to personal hygiene to the flood-af fected women, due to a lack of suf ficient funds it is impossible to cater to the needs of a large number of women across the wide area that lies af fected.

To make matters worse, there are some people who even criticise such measures and efforts.

Moreover, the preparations by the government are inadequate. The medical teams deployed at the flood relief campsof ten do not include women doctors. They are just providing the basic treatment related to malaria, dengue, diarrhoea, etc.

Here the question is: who will treat the reproductive health concerns and related diseases among women in the absence of a women doctor? According to media reports, 650,000 women in the flood-affected areas are pregnant and 1.6 million women are of childbearing age. In this time of need, there is a dire need for the availability of women doctors round the clock in flood-ravaged areas.

Apart f rom health issues, women are vulnerable to kidnappings and other crimes as well. There have been reports of young girls having been separated from their parents when their families were trying to leave their homes.

This may result in an increased rate of girl traf ficking.

The government has f ailed to cater to the basic humanitarian needs of the flood af fectees, and women are no exception. It seems that the authorities concerned do not bother to look deep into the problems that are being faced by the most vulnerable section of society.

Our politicians always tend to leave their voters in the lurch whenever an adversity hits the nation. All citizens, especially women, should step forward to alleviate the suf ferings of their fellow beings.

Women should donate as many sanitary items as possible, and women doctors should establish volunteer camps in nood-affected areasin orderto providemedical assistance to pregnant women.

This, unfortunately, seems to be the only way out of what really is a grim situation.

Javeriya Mahar Hyderabad