By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) on Tuesday inked an MOU with Islamic Rescue Committee (IRC-IVAP) to conduct Coordinated Gap Analysis (CGA) at national level on COVID-19. This was said by Director General NCHD Hassan Baig while addressing a meeting of senior management, said a press release issued here.
This analysis will provide an understanding how, why and the context in which humans and communities respond allows to anticipate unwanted scenarios and initiate mitigating measures. Secondly, the analysis will generate information that will become evidence for strategic planning, program implementation and response monitoring during COVID-19 outbreak. NCHD being the implementer will conduct this analysis in 41 districts covering 16,400 households.
DG NCHD Hassan Baig stressed that premeditated, strategic and joint efforts were required to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on social, economic and fiscal scenario. “Government of Pakistan is utilizing all its muscles to tackle with the pandemic COVID -19 and its impact especially providing essential health services to the vulnerable and needy and protecting health systems,†he said.
In addition, the government has launched multi-sectoral initiatives to mitigate the effects of this pandemic on economy, livelihoods and other sectors. Donors, UN agencies, International and national humanitarians actors/NGOs supported well to the government of Pakistan in the stern situation, he added.
The DG said that, it was important to have situation analysis by conducting a comprehensive assessment. It would help the government and humanitarian in understating the overall impact and the proportion of population at risk, he added. The assessment would provide the knowledge about the extent of vulnerability across
geo-graphics and various demographics, he further added.
In addition, it would give a look into the level at what humanitarian organizations and government authorities were responding to the pillars identified in National Action Plan for the pandemic, he informed. While elaborating the statistics. he said report of IMF projected that 40 percent of Pakistanis were living below the poverty line in COVID-19’s viral wake.
Nearly 22 million children are now out of school, while 17 million children under five are missing routine vaccinations. An additional 2.45 million people—beyond an existing 40 million—now suffer food insecurity, the study finds. Real GDP growth is expected to slow due to downturns in services and manufacturing. Agriculture had also lagged down due to lockdowns and disrupted needed transportation, logistical support, labor, and access to inputs for the next planting season, he briefed.
