Overcrowding and the hot, humid weather means conditions are ripe for the spread of more disease
ZARMAST LOOKED anxiously at his son’s drawn face and bewildered eyes. For two weeks now, the little boy has suffered from diarrhoea brought on by the stinking, muddied floodwaters that visited such havoc on his remote village.
Shahussain (5) sat silently in his filthy shalwar kameez as a doctor examined him for signs of other diseases that have taken hold in the area since the rains came. “He is one of only two sons of mine,” said Zarmast. “I am very worried for his health because he is so young and diarrhoea is so dangerous for a child.” Children are the most vulnerable victims of the deluge that has claimed the lives of more than 1,600 people, driven millions from their homes, and rendered huge tracts of Pakistan uninhabitable.
Shahussain is one of six million children affected by the floods, whether lost, orphaned or stricken with diarrhoea and other illnesses. The UN believes up to 3.5 million children could be in danger of contracting deadly diseases carried through contaminated water and insects.
“Children are always vulnerable. They cannot control their thirst, they will drink any type of water and may get watery diarrhoea, cholera, malaria and other diseases,” said Sami Abdul Malik, a spokesman for Unicef.
Dr Farhatullah, who treated Shahussain and more than 70 other children in the village of Aziz Abad yesterday, says diarrhoea and scabies are the most common post-flood illnesses he has encountered.
The most serious case he has come across is that of a four-year-old girl who was weakened by more than a week of chronic diarrhoea before she was seen by a doctor. But one of his biggest fears is the possibility of an increase in malaria, given the vast pools of stagnant water left behind now that the floods are beginning to recede in this part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a province in northwest Pakistan.
Dr Farhatullah works with one of nine mobile medical camps run by Irish aid agency Concern and its local partners Friends Foundation in the area. More than 14,000 people in the flood-hit region have been treated by these roving medical personnel over the last two weeks.
In Aziz Abad, where the floods destroyed more than half of the village’s 600 households, many of the displaced are crowded into the homes of relatives or staying in tents.
“We have never seen anything like this before,” said Zarmast. “It will be very difficult to get our village back to what it was before.”
In another part of Aziz Abad, Dr Samina Mukhtar examined a steady stream of women and girls in the living room of what was once a family home. The women, some wearing all-enveloping burqas, others diaphanous headscarves, pushed their children forward. Several displayed the tell-tale signs of eye infection. Others told of swollen bellies and stomach aches. Dr Mukhtar estimates that up to 70 per cent of the children in the village have diarrhoea.
“Overcrowding in tents and houses plus the hot, humid weather means conditions are ripe for the spread of more disease,” she said.
Earlier this week, the UN warned of a “second wave of death” in the days to come as a result of disease in the worst-hit regions. Aid agencies are concerned that a cholera epidemic could break out following the first confirmed case of the disease in the Swat valley area of northwest Pakistan.
The World Health Organisation predicts that up to 1.5 million cases of diarrhoeal diseases – including up to 140,000 cases of cholera – 150,000 cases of measles, 350,000 cases of acute respiratory infections, and up to 100,000 cases of malaria could occur over the next three months.
UN humanitarian spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said millions are at risk of contracting diseases including hepatitis.
“What concerns us the most is water and health,” he said. “Clean water is essential to prevent deadly water-borne diseases. Water during the flood has been contaminated badly. There is a shortage of clean water.”
HOW TO HELP IRISH CONTACTS
Action Aid1890 704 704
www.actionaid.ie
Christian Aid Ireland01 611 0801
www.christianaid.ie
Concern1850 410 510
www.concern.net
Goal01 2809 779
www.goal.ie
Irish Red Cross01 642 4600
www.redcross.ie
Oxfam Ireland1850 30 40 55
www.oxfamireland.org
Plan Ireland1800 829 829
www.plan.ie
Trócaire01 629 3333
www.trocaire.org
MSF Ireland1 800 905 509
www.msf.ie
Unicef Ireland01 878 3000
www.unicef.ie