In Pakistan more than one third of its population continues to live below the poverty line (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2013). Recent research has shown that poverty is wide spread in both urban and rural areas and it is not only rural phenomenon. Since the past few decades, Karachi has experienced an inflow of migrants from all parts of Pakistan in search of better opportunities. Karachi has about 650 katchi abadis (squatter settlements) which are home to 50% of city’s population (Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority 2006). The objective of this study is to measure and analyse the nature and level of socio-economic deprivation as well as to find out the different forms of socio-economic deprivation. It is an exploratory cross-sectional study. Primary data is collected from 497 households of seven katchi abadis of Karachi to study the problem. Statistical tools of analysis i.e. coefficients of variance are used to analyse the relationship between two variables and indices of multiple deprivation are constructed to compute the different domains and levels of deprivation. It is evident from the outcomes of the findings of domains of deprivation that the significant proportion of population of Katchi Abadis i.e. approximately 50% of the households suffers from multiple deprivation. The findings emphasize that all settlements have deprivation in all domains (education, economic, housing quality and housing services deprivation, health deprivation); however each settlement has different issues and concerns priority wise. Index of multiple deprivation show 49% of households living below poverty line (US$ 1.25) experience multiple deprivation. The findings also reveal that 60% of households highly to moderately deprived as regards to levels of deprivation while 40% has low deprivation level. In order to increase the standard of living on the grass-root level, “Living Wages” should be used as the standard to measure people’s socio-economic wellbeing instead “Poverty” to maintain a decent standard of living for families of different sizes. Policies should be designed to decrease the level of unemployment on a scale needed for long term poverty alleviation, by creating environment that is conducive to private economic activity at the grass root level.

Females are less in numbers when it comes to professional life, females are far behind in economic independence; male gender is the one which is ruling in labour market. The ratio of working women is very low as compared to men; especially in developing nations like Pakistan, this ratio is very depressed due to many social constraints. Women are surrounded by religious, cultural and traditional pressures and gate ways which they need to pass through. All hindrances make it difficult for women to get their piece of cake without any snag. To confirm these facts, middle class women aged 20 to 50 years were interviewed. Sadaf Stress Scale (SSS) was utilized to evaluate the level of emotional and mental stress in both groups. Respondents were selected using purposive sampling. Majority women in both groups expressed marriage and children’s socialization as a main hurdle in their professionalism; majority believed that it was not women’s responsibility to earn. Majority unmarried working females were ready to quit their jobs if their financial problems are solved in future. The proportion of women with high level stress was found in women of non-working group, who were of opinion that careers would have been good for them but would disturb their family lives. Level of stress was low in women whose religious level was high and they were against the concept of women empowerment. Rigid and orthodox interpretation of religious and society’s cultural values were found one of the important factors that held back women from economic participation.

The reproductive health of adolescents is of growing concern all over the world. At the global level, many young people get involved in sexual activities and risk sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV or involvement in unintended pregnancy. Young people every where reach puberty earlier and marry later than in the past. As a result, youth are sexually mature for a longer period of time prior marriage. Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing is a major concern and is associated with a range of outcomes detrimental to teen’s health, including complications of pregnancy, illegal and unsafe abortions and death, especially in less developed nations. Fifteen million women age 15-19, give birth every year, 13 million belonging to less developed countries. Over all, 33 percent women from less developed countries give birth before the age of 20 -varying from 8 percent in East Asia to 55 percent in West Africa- (UNFPA; 2000). Adolescent girls in many South Asian settings are unlikely to have much exposure or physical access to outside world. Few services cater to their needs for health care, nutrition, vocational skills, economic opportunities or information. Sizeable proportions of women in south Asia marry well before 18, and early pregnancy further exacerbates their poor reproductive health. This paper examines the knowledge and attitude of female adolescence aged 15-19 years about their reproductive health in Lower Hunza, Northern Areas of Pakistan. First part of this paper comprises introduction of adolescence and reproductive health, its worldwide and Pakistani situation. The second part of the paper consists of hypotheses and key concepts of the study and the third comprises methodology and statistical analysis of the hypotheses. The last section consists of conclusions and recommendation for the improvement of knowledge and awareness programmes for female adolescents as they are more vulnerable than male.

The present research was conducted on female sex workers (FSWs) to study the knowledge Attitude and Practices towards HIV/AIDS. Females are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS as compared to males in Pakistan. The FSWs are on high risk due to the high-risk practices in their profession. Female sex workers are the major drivers of HIV/AIDS into general population. This is the group, which is ignored due to the social taboo, and stigma attached to their profession that in turn gave boom to these females and now they have become dangerous segment of the society. Present study was conducted on Napier Road, Karachi which is the oldest brothel area of Pakistan established during the rule of British. The data was collected from 180 FSWs through questionnaires. The findings showed that these females didn’t use preventive measures against HIV/AIDS. Stigma, fear, threat and cultural constraint were some of the factors which have made them more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. It was concluded that females in brothels were vulnerable to HIV/AIDS mainly due to their lifestyle, ignorance, use of drugs and little power to negotiate about the use of condoms, the safest form of prevention of STD’s and HIV/AIDS. HIV prevalence is low in Pakistan even in this high risk group. It is suggested that the government should immediately launch security, educational and health services programs specifically for commercial sex workers in order to minimise the risks before it expounds and becomes epidemic.