Outbreak of waterborne diseases in Pakistan amid floods raises concern

The outbreak of waterborne diseases in areas hit by recent record-breaking floods in Pakistan has raised concerns among health officials, as nearly half a million flood-displaced people are living in relief camps, local media reported.

According to a report released by the Sindh health department, Diarrhoea, skin diseases and eye infections are spreading at relief camps set up by the government across the province, ARY News reported.

Pakistan, this year has faced unprecedented floods, which have affected nearly 33 million people in the country and left tens of thousands of people displaced.

Due to internal displacement, more than 500,000 people are currently living in relief camps across Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Punjab.

According to a report released by the health officials on Saturday, more than 134,000 diarrhoea cases were reported from Sindh in the past two months.

Similarly, the official stats show that 44,832 malaria cases were found during monsoon rains since June this year. It added that 101 snake-bite cases have also been reported.

According to the UN Population Fund, 6.4 million flood victims need humanitarian assistance, ARY News reported.

Menstruating and pregnant women are in a miserable state as they have no access to menstrual products or any place to defecate. The report said that about 650,000 pregnant women in flood-affected areas, including 73,000 expected to deliver in the next month, need maternal health services.

This comes a day after World Health Organisation (WHO) raised concerns over the alarming rate of increasing waterborne diseases.

"Major health concerns already reported the spread of diarrheal diseases skin and eye infections acute respiratory infections malaria Crops and livestock have been lost posing a serious threat to the nutrition of afflicted communities," WHO Pakistan tweeted on Friday.

As heavy monsoon rains and floods continue to create havoc in the country, early 1,300 people have lost their lives in different provinces of the country.

The death toll since June has reached 1,290 with 29 people dying in the last 24 hours, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Saturday, reported Geo News.

Large parts of the country remain submerged - particularly the provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh in the south. At least 180 people have died in Sindh followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (138) and Balochistan (125), reported Geo News.

The southern province of Sindh, which has been badly hit by the flooding, has asked for 1 million tents, while nearby Balochistan province has requested 100,000 tents. Since mid-June, when the monsoon began, more than 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) of road, 130 bridges and 495,000 homes have been damaged, according to NDMA's last situation report.

At least, 1,468,019 houses have been partially or totally damaged, while 736,459 livestock have been killed due to the floods.

The floods that have inundated a third of the country -- affecting more than 33 million people -- were preceded by four heatwaves and multiple raging forest fires, the disaster management chief told the high-level meeting, highlighting the effects of climate change in the South Asian nation.