Thursday, Pakistani health officials reported an epidemic of waterborne infections in regions devastated by recent record-breaking floods, as authorities ramped up efforts to provide safe drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the catastrophe.
Due to the most catastrophic floods in Pakistan’s recent history, more than three million children are in need of humanitarian help and are at increased risk of contracting infections, drowning, and hunger.
Thousands of pregnant women were among the 33 million people impacted by floods, and Pakistani officials and humanitarian organizations were striving to provide them with medical care.
Diarrhea, skin illnesses, and eye infections are spreading across the nation’s government-established relief centers. Sindh, one of the worst-affected provinces, has recorded over 90,000 instances of diarrhea in the previous 24 hours, according to a data provided by health authorities. However, the infections were also recorded in other flood-affected regions.
The gloomy reports were released a day after Pakistan and the World Health Organization expressed alarm about the development of waterborne infections among the victims of the flooding. Pakistan blames climate change for the abnormally early and severe monsoon rains that have caused 1,191 deaths and impacted 33 million people since June. Additionally, almost one million dwellings have been damaged or destroyed.
This aerial view obtained on September 1, 2022 shows flooded residential areas in Dera Allah Yar town, Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province, after severe monsoon rains. FIDA HUSAN/AFP courtesy of Getty Images
In most of the nation, floodwaters began to subside, but several regions in the southern Sindh province remained submerged, forcing displaced people to remain in donated camps.
Among the flood victims residing in a relief camp in the Shikar Pur district of Sindh was 21-year-old Mundam Ali, who is seven months pregnant. She reported having a backache and a cough. Ali said that she had no alternative but to reside in the relief camp while her community remained underwater.
Ramesh Kumar, a physician in Shikar Pur, said that the majority of flood victims he treated had waterborne infections.
Nearly half a million flood refugees now reside in relief camps. According to Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, the provincial health minister of Sindh, hundreds of medical camps have been established in flood-ravaged districts to treat victims. In addition, mobile medical units have been deployed. The World Health Organization is expanding monitoring for acute diarrhea, cholera, and other infectious illnesses as well as supplying health facilities with medical supplies.
The majority of patients first seen by doctors were traumatized by the floods, but they are also treating hundreds with diarrhea, skin infections, and other waterborne illnesses. Numerous pregnant women who resided in flood-affected regions were also exposed to dangers.
Farah Naureen, the director for Pakistan at the international humanitarian organization Mercy Corps, said that the incidence of waterborne infections among displaced persons in flood-affected regions was accelerating. She said in a statement that, apart from infectious disorders, women’s health was of special concern.
She said, “Approximately 73,000 women will give birth during the next month, and they need trained birth attendants, seclusion, and birthing facilities to ensure the life of the mother and infant.”
Thursday, September 1, 2022, in the Shikarpur region of Sindh Province, Pakistan, ladies lay on hospital beds awaiting treatment after their houses were destroyed by flooding. Fareed Khan / AP
According to Shazia Marri, Minister for Poverty Alleviation, the government was aware of the issues pregnant mothers and children confront and was moving promptly to assist.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, 6,4 million Pakistani flood victims need humanitarian aid. It was said that around 650,000 pregnant women in flood-affected regions need maternal health treatments, including 73,000 who are due to give birth within the next month.
UNICEF said in a statement that children were especially vulnerable.
“Children are usually among the most vulnerable during natural catastrophes,” said Abdullah Fadil, the UNICEF representative in Pakistan. The organization said that 17,566 schools were destroyed by flooding.
Meanwhile, rescuers, aided by the military, began evacuating stranded individuals to safer locations. To remove trapped individuals from locations where bridges and roads have been devastated, making it impossible to evacuate people and provide supplies, rescuers mostly use boats, but also use helicopters.
Pakistan and the United Nations submitted an emergency financing plea for $160 million to Pakistan a few days ago. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif went to Twitter on Thursday to congratulate the United Arab Emirates for sending the first $50 million shipment of humanitarian supplies. Additionally, he commended the United States for providing $30 million in assistance.
Several nations, notably Turkey, China, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, have already dispatched planeloads of relief to Pakistani flood victims. Initial official estimates indicate that the catastrophe cost $10 billion in losses.
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