SURVIVORS OF PAKISTAN FLOODS FACE GROWING HEALTH PROBLEMS
Baku, August 23 (AZERTAC). The misery of Pakistan`s flooding, which has already displaced millions, is showing up in the form of communicable illnesses, the United Nations said Monday.
Up to 1.5 million flood victims in Pakistan were being treated for a variety of ailments and conditions, including acute respiratory infections, diarrhea and skin infections, according to Maurizio Giuliano with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has called a Tuesday meeting of senior Pakistani health officials, local officials, U.N. agencies and other international group to look into the emerging health crisis, state-run TV reported.
The World Health Organization announced Sunday that cases of acute diarrhea have topped 204,000. The number of skin diseases -- such as scabies -- has topped 263,300.
More than 204,600 Pakistanis have reported acute respiratory infections as filthy waters surround homeless flood victims, WHO said.
Thousands have cases of suspected malaria.
"Strong water and sanitation interventions, such as providing clean drinking water supply and addressing environmental hazards, are urgently needed to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases in" Charsadda, Nowshera and Peshawar, WHO said.
Meanwhile, the half-million residents of Shahdadkot frantically tried to flee their homes over the weekend as a wall of water threatened to burst mud berms and drown the entire city in Pakistan`s Sindh province.
Three weeks into the worst natural disaster in Pakistan`s history, people were still desperate to escape as a second wave of monsoon floodwaters surged southward. More than 1,500 people have died and 20 million lives have been disrupted.
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