500,000 lactating or pregnant women need instant care in flooded Pakistan

At least 500,000 flood-hit Pakistani women, lactating or pregnant, require special food and nutritional support, a World Health Organization (WHO) report said Friday.

The recent worst affecting floods displaced more than 20 million people from their homes in different parts of Pakistan and among them more than 85 percent are women.

According to reports, women produce 60 percent to 80 percent of food in developing countries, yet they face stiff discrimination in access to credit, land, inputs, education and other key resources.

"Unless governments and donors invest in the specific needs of these women farmers, increase their rights to land and ease their unpaid care burden, hunger will never be eradicated. The floods have further threatened women's access to food, increasing risks of hunger and food insecurity," said the report.

To highlight issues arising in the aftermath of floods and their implication for women farmers, a special session will be organized during the World Rural Women Day conference in Islamabad on Oct. 15.

International food rights experts, emergency and rehabilitation coordinators, educationists, women's rights activists and food and agriculture experts will participate in the discussion.

Source: Xinhua