Ten-year-old Gulzarina and her younger sister Salma. Photo credit: Usman Ghani

Gulzarina, 10, and her family fled their home in Bajaur Agency, North West Frontier Province, in May.

Now all 20 of them live in a one-room house in Swabi District, where they know few people. Her parents and other adult relatives harvest wheat for a local landlord in return for food.

Gulzarina spends most of her time looking after her younger brothers and sisters. They have few toys and usually play outside in the scorching sun, where temperatures have been topping 110 degrees.

Since the family fled their village, Gulzarina has complained of stomach cramps and headaches. She has lost weight during the last month.

Gulzarina's parents took her to a Save the Children health clinic, where she was diagnosed with worms and treated. Doctors said her illness probably resulted from the unhygienic conditions in which her family has been forced to live.

She was prescribed medicine and given multivitamins to help her get back to her normal weight. Her brothers and sisters also received multivitamins.

"The doctor was a nice lady and carefully listened to my problem — which I had been complaining of for a long time," said Gulzarina. "Had it not been for the (Save the Children) clinic giving me medicine, I am sure my parents would not have been able to get it for me as we cannot afford it right now."

Save the Children is treating thousands of displaced children, like Gulzarina, at its mobile health clinics, currently providing services to remote villages where more than 2 million children and adults have fled to escape fighting.

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Last Updated July 2009