Razia's daughter, Muskan. Credit: Usman Ghani/Save the Children

Recently widowed, Razia was still trying to help her children come to terms with the sudden death of their father six months ago when the conflict in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province reached their home in Mingora, in the Swat Valley.

Razia and her four children heard the shelling. The danger was immediate. When some of her neighbors were killed, she knew they had to leave.

"I was really scared," Razia says.

When authorities announced that it was safe to evacuate the city, Razia had no time to contact any of her relatives. She collected what little money she had, gathered up her children and fled.

Desperate to get to safety, she spent half of her savings hiring a van to travel to Swabi, about 37 miles (62 km) away.

Razia and her children are now staying in a local family's house in a remote Swabi village along with more than 40 other people also displaced by the conflict — the majority of them children under the age of 10.

Desperate Conditions Lead to Health Problems

Save the Children set up the health clinic at a government facility. Credit: Usman Ghani/Save the Children

While they have found refuge, conditions in the home are cramped and unhygienic. All of Razia's children have fallen ill with either chest infections or diarrhea – which, in the developing world, are often fatal to children if left untreated.

But Razia's five-year-old daughter, Muskan, is now recovering from severe diarrhea after she visited a Save the Children health clinic in the remote village where the family is staying.

Save the Children doctors also provided Muskan and her three brothers with multivitamins to reduce the risk of infection from living in such poor conditions.

"It is difficult for me to provide my children with good food and other things;" says Razia. "I am happy that we finally have a health specialist here. It is so great to have the vitamins — my children really need them at this time." 

Save the Children is treating thousands of displaced children like Muskan at its mobile health clinics that travel to the remote villages in Swabi District. The agency is focusing its efforts on separated children, women-headed households, families with children under 5, and families that include an injured or chronically ill family member.

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Last Updated May 2009