Diseases galore

Flood-affected areas are known to be ideal breeding grounds for disease-causing pathogens. With the current devastation in Pakistan, the health of the flood-affected population is being severely compromised in the short, medium and long term.

In the short-term, health risks range from drowning to injuries; in the medium-term from infected wounds, waterborne disease spread, to starvation, and; in the long-term chronic diseases are likely to occur. With poor sanitation and a weak healthcare infrastructure, floods of this magnitude have not only created new avenues of spreading illnesses, but have also compounded existing health concerns in Pakistan.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 1,460 healthcare facilities were affected by floods, of which 432 were fully and 1,028 were partially damaged. The organisation says that 12,500 people have been injured and 634,000 have been displaced. At present, there are 4,553 medical camps in affected areas run in collaboration with 27 local and international healthcare entities, whose early surveillance has indicated that, “tens of thousands have been affected by diarrhoea, malaria, acute respiratory infections, skin and eye infections and typhoid.”

United Nations Children’s Fund has said that an estimated 30 percent of the water systems in flood-affected areas have been destroyed or damaged which is aiding in the increased spread of diseases due to the consumption of unsafe drinking water and open field defecation. The Sindh government reported 200,000 cases of diarrhoea in August, with 90,000 occurring in a single day on August 30, the highest of any province.

With much of the health infrastructure damaged or made inaccessible due to inundation of road networks, access to healthcare facilities, professionals are in short supply and essential medicines have become very limited. Skilled doctors are unable to reach affected populations and make-shift healthcare centres are unable to provide adequate assistance to meet their needs. Furthermore, the destruction of farmland and other agro-based sources of income all but ensures that poverty-related diseases such as, malnutrition, as well as, stunting amongst children will increase.

In this bleak scenario, time is of the essence. Work is being done both on the national and international levels. The Federal Government, in collaboration with the United Nations, has formulated a Flood Response Plan and appealed for $160 million, of which $22.8 million will be allocated towards the health sector to service 1.2 million in need. WHO, with the help of the government, has reached 599,000 people to provide them with essential health care. WHO states that 1.5 million worth of essential medicine, medical kits, water purification kits, tents and ORS packets have been distributed. 230,000 rapid tests for waterborne diseases including diarrhoea, malaria, dengue and hepatitis have been given to healthcare providers by the WHO. It has also pledged to release $10 million from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergency.

Provincial Health Minister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho has said that thousands of medical camps have been established in Sindh. In Balochistan and Swat contingents of the Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), the WHO, the UN, the International Red Cross, the Pakistan Red Crescent and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, along with many other private organisations, are working in collaboration to help the affected population.

All stakeholders must ensure proper allocation of funds and dispensation of healthcare. The problem is not simply solved through hygiene promotion. The recent demise of Iqra University’s founding chancellor, philanthropist and social worker Hunaid Lakhani who contracted dengue in Thatta, while doing relief work in flood affected areas, points to the danger of water borne disease that is here to stay unless urgent action is taken to dispel this threat.