care Prof:
On Monday the U.N. stated that 13.8 million men and girls have been affected by the floods in Pakistan as the death toll has now reached 1,600, Agence France-Presse reports.
“This disaster is worse than the [2004 Indian Ocean] tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake,” Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated to the AFP (8/9).
Martin Mogwanja, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan told reporters on Friday that damage resulting from the floods has “to be measured in terms of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not much more than a billion,” CNN reports. “There is going to be a tremendous cost in terms of repairing roads, bridges, telecommunications and electricity infrastructure,” Mogwanja said, adding that repairs to farming infrastructure and irrigation will also add to the cost.
The U.N. is operating on a plan aimed at addressing the needs of those affected by the flooding, he stated. The emergency response plan aims to “address the most pressing requirements within the area of food security, health care, sanitation and shelter” within the next three months, according to Mogwanja. He stated that at least 1.5 million individuals had lost their homes.
CNN continues: “The priorities which have been supplied for so far include: 500 metric tons of food from the Globe Food Programme, clean drinking water from UNICEF to far far more than 700,000 men and women, and 40 cholera kits from the World Health Organization to health centers in Pakistan.” According to Mogwanja, “[T]his is only a small fraction of what is required, given the scale of this disaster and also its geographic scope, spreading across the poor, large provinces with all the country” (Casanas, 8/7).
U.S. Disaster Response Aid
The U.S. “has sent rescue helicopters, delivered medicines and far more than half a million halal meals and water as Pakistan’s fragile government struggles with all the worst floods in 80 years,” Reuters reports. In the coming days, disaster response will focus on rescue and the prevention of communicable diseases, such as cholera, according to the news service.
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah stated he hopes U.S. efforts is going to be well received in Pakistan where the U.S. is often viewed with suspicion. “As the Pakistani men and girls see the tremendous efforts that America is creating to offer them with support … they will appreciate the commitment that we have there (in Pakistan),” Shah stated. So far, the U.S. has supplied $35 million in flood relief, and Shah stated far more money will likely be given because a whole lot a lot more rains are expected (Pleming, 8/7).
A second Reuters story looks at how the flooding and future aid to the country. “As flood waters rise in Pakistan, so does U.S. concern over the impact of the disaster on an already fragile economy and how Washington’s robust development plan may possibly be slowed down to deal together with the crisis,” the news service writes.
“For its portion, the Obama administration has its own ambitious non-military aid program in Pakistan, with plans to spend $7.5 billion over the next 5 years. The State Department has been negotiating for months with the Pakistanis over which projects should be done quite very first, with a main focus on water and boosting electricity at the same time as agriculture, the backbone with all the economy,” Reuters reports. “Some money could be reprogrammed to deal with the present emergency although Washington is going to be coordinating with other significant aid donors when Pakistan’s government has drawn up a full tally of its rebuilding wants.” Shah said, “We can be flexible in being responsive to the requirements as articulated by Pakistan … It makes it harder to have large-scale progress when you have these kinds of natural disasters” (Pleming, 8/9).
Health Implications; Aid Appeal
Currently, the “Pakistani government, international and local health groups are stepping up efforts to avoid water-borne diseases from spreading inside the country’s flood- affected areas,” Xinhua reports. “Government officials stated that medical teams have been dispatched to each district with adequate medicines. They have sprayed pesticides and dispersed lime inside the affected areas. But men and females in the affected areas complained that they have not been given enough and proper medical care,” the news service writes in a story featuring quotes from neighborhood responders. The control of water-borne diseases, respiratory infections and treatment of injuries are some with all the most pressing health concerns, according to the WHO. It also stated ensuring access to health facilities and the availability of female health workers are other priorities (Tahir, 8/8).
IRIN also reports on relief efforts, noting that “[u]nrelenting downpours continue to limit relief efforts and have grounded helicopters in [the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which is believed to have the most casualties] leaving thousands of people cut off in areas where roads and bridges have been swept away.” The post looks at the disaster response in different areas and compares it to a main earthquake the country faced in 2005 (8/8).
In related news, UNICEF is appealing for $47.3 million to fund relief operations for an estimated 1.four million youngsters along with other affected people, Bernama reports (8/7).
“The UNICEF relief operation will concentrate on the crucial areas of water and sanitation, health, nutrition, education and child protection. The largest portion with all the operation is the provision of water and sanitation systems to head off the outbreak of diseases such as diarrhea and cholera, especially deadly to young children. UNICEF is already providing clean drinking water to over half a million men and women and will bring in emergency food rations and emergency health kits,” according to a press release from the organization. (8/6).
This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Household Foundation. You can view the whole Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.
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