Eight million flood-affected people need immediate medical attention, $81m: WHO

The World Health Organization has issued a warning that the flood-affected areas of Pakistan are becoming more dangerous as eight million people are in need of immediate medical attention.

According to WHO Regional Emergency Director Dr Richard Brennan, deteriorated infrastructure, stagnant water and insufficient sanitation facilities are all contributing to an increase in public health hazards.

He said that massive amounts of lingering floodwaters had served as mosquito breeding grounds, causing an ongoing malaria outbreak in 32 regions across the nation.

According to Dr Brennan, it will be difficult for relief organisations to handle the crisis. 

He said that more than $81.5 million was required to address the health crisis in Pakistan’s flood-affected regions in order to ensure coordinated provision of critical medical services, effective management of severe acute malnutrition, and more effective epidemic identification and control.

The UN has issued a warning about a “second wave” of disaster, with the possibility that the 1,700 people who drowned and died from electrocution in the original cascade may be outnumbered by those who die from water-borne illness and starvation.
As many as 33 million people of the 220 million South Asian nation have been affected in some way by the floods that swept away houses, roads, railways and bridges and submerged around 4 million acres of farmland.