Pakistan 2020 © MSF/Nasir Ghafoor

Pakistan

Providing health care for communities affected by devastating floods and diseases including malaria, leishmaniasis, and hepatitis C.

Floods, poverty, and survival in Pakistan

June 18, 2025 — Women and children in Pakistan’s eastern Balochistan struggle to access basic health care, often traveling long distances and paying high transport costs just to receive essential services. The region experiences seasonal floods and droughts, food insecurity, and chronic poverty, which all worsen a maternal health crisis. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is providing free maternal and child health care in the eastern Balochistan town of Dera Murad Jamali. MSF is also helping to manage infectious disease outbreaks, such as diphtheria and measles, in other districts across the region.

Our work in Pakistan

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) delivers vital medical care in Pakistan, tackling neglected diseases, improving care for mothers and children in high-risk areas, and carrying out a groundbreaking hepatitis C intervention.

What's happening in Pakistan?

Health care for women, children, and newborns is a serious concern in Pakistan and remains our priority there. Women in rural areas die from preventable complications during pregnancy and delivery, and neonatal care is unavailable in many areas. According to the 2017-8 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, 1 in every 14 children dies before the age of 5.

How we're helping in Pakistan

MSF activities in Pakistan focused on delivering essential health care to people with severely limited access—particularly those who are marginalized or live in extreme poverty.

In Balochistan, a region with alarmingly high maternal death rates, we supported reproductive health and neonatal services in Kuchlak, Chaman, and east Balochistan. We also offered nutritional care for children as well as lactating and pregnant women.

We also continued to operate our program treating cutaneous leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease that causes skin lesions, across Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During the year, our clinics treated nearly 10,000 patients. In addition to diagnosis and care, we offer mental health support and conduct research into improved treatment options.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Tirah valley, where communities are rebuilding their lives after being displaced by conflict, we provided basic health care, and in 2024 responded to a significant malaria outbreak. Our presence ensured access to vital medical services in a fragile environment.

How we're helping

14,900

Births assisted

11,200

Patients received a new treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis

11,500

People treated for cutaneous leishmaniasis

6,770

Malaria cases treated

490

People started on hepatitis C treatment

*Data from MSF International Activity Report 2024

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How you can help

Not everyone can treat patients in the field. But everyone can do something.

Some humanitarian crises make the headlines—others don’t. Unrestricted support from our donors allows us to mobilize quickly and efficiently to provide lifesaving medical care to the people who need it most, whether those needs are in the spotlight or not. And your donation is 100 percent tax-deductible.