Pregnant women lose all hope of help as Pakistan drowns in floods

According to a report, at least 650,000 women in flood-affected areas in Pakistan are pregnant, with about 73,000 of them expecting delivery within a month, 1 warranting it to be a public health emergency. Considering the lack of hospital access and maternity care available for pregnant women in flood-affected areas, the indicators for mother-child health are expected to worsen even further. 3 Studies of flood-stricken areas in the past have shown that rates of low birth weight and gestational hypertension increase exponentially after calamities of magnitude such as this one. 4 These complications may even require hospitalization, lifesaving medicines and procedures, which are the most basic necessities but have become luxuries in the worst affected areas in Pakistan. [...]pregnancies at risk for complications must be identified so that women can be moved to hospitals over predesignated safe routes in case of expected complications.