10.6m people get assistance from RAHA programme

Islamabad : Around 10.6 million people had got assistance from Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) programme of United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) through 4,100 projects worth $200 million in Pakistan.

An official told this agency on Sunday, that people got assistance in various sectors including education, health, livelihood, water, sanitation, infrastructure and social protection.

He said that this projects was launched in 2009 for the welfare and progress of Afghan refugees and hosting communities of the country in the remote areas of Khyber Pukhtunkhaw and Balochistan. He said that so far Pakistan hosting 1.4 million Afghan refugees.

Around 4.3 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan under the UNHCR-facilitated voluntary repatriation programme since 2002. He said that recently with the assistance of health ministry of Balochistan, UNHCR have opened a state-of-the-art public health facility which was providing free treatment to Pakistanis and Afghan refugee patients suffering from kidney diseases.

The Balochistan Institute of Nephro-Urology Quetta, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) will cater for the needs of over 14,000 Pakistani citizens and Afghan refugees with renal diseases every year.