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Rural Health Centers Open in Pakistan
Before: The health center demolished by the earthquake The first AmeriCares-supported rural health center was inaugurated in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. This was the first in a network of 20 health care facilities being completed under a joint agreement between AmeriCares and the World Health Organization (WHO). Located in Garhi Duphatta in the Muzzafarabad District of Kashmir, the opening of this clinic restored health care services to a community that has been without local medical care since a 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocked Pakistan in October 2005. The quake, which killed more than 80,000 people, destroyed more than 60% of the primary care facilities in Kashmir and the adjacent North West Frontier Province. Earlier this year, AmeriCares committed to rebuilding 20 rural health centers in key areas, to support the ongoing post-earthquake recovery effort. Five of the clinics are now operational, and the remaining 15 will be completed in March. AmeriCares President and CEO Curt Welling traveled to Garhi Duphatta for the inaugural ceremony, which had been organized by the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority and WHO Pakistan. Each rural health center - a small hospital -- serves a population of between 50,000 to 100,000 people; in total, the 20 hospitals will reach at least 1,000,000 people. AmeriCares purchased and equipped the structures, and is supplying them with essential medicines.
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