Children in Pakistan face a variety of serious challenges,
including malnutrition and poor access to education and health
services. Traditional mores and the influence of extremism
contribute to a resistance to girls' education, as well as
suspicion of health initiatives such as vaccination. The
situation of children and women varies greatly throughout the
country and is especially poor in rural areas, including
Balochistan Province, which has been affected by a long-running
insurgency. In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),
which border Afghanistan and parts of which are currently
affected by conflict, adult female literacy is only 7 per cent.
Conflict, political turmoil, natural disasters and economic
instability have posed major challenges to the well-being of
children and women in Pakistan in recent years. Fighting between
the government and militants in North-West Frontier Province
(NWFP) in 2008-09 displaced a total of 2.7 million people at its
peak, in the largest displacement crisis since