Malaria threatens 2 million in Pakistan as floodwaters turn stagnant

Pools of standing water in southern Sindh province potentially home to disease-carrying mosquitoes that breed and hatch

By Declan Walsh in Islamabad, www.guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 3 October 2010 22.00 BST More than two million cases of malaria are expected in Pakistan in the coming months in the wake of the country’s devastating floods, aid workers have warned. Two months into the crisis, large areas remain submerged in southern Sindh province, creating stagnant pools of standing water that, combined with the heat, are powerful incubators of a disease spread by mosquitoes that breed and hatch in the pools. More than 250,000 cases of suspected malaria, including some of the fatal falciparum strain, have been reported, according to the World Health Organisation. Aid agency Plan International worries the figure will surpass two million. “The most vulnerable are women and children,” said its Pakistan director, Haider Yaqub. The malaria threat is part of a wider health emergency, with more than 20 million people affected by the floods struggling to cope as the winter approaches. Last night the UN reported 881,000 cases of diarrhoea, 840,000 cases of skin diseases and almost one million cases of respiratory disorders. Dr Dana van Alphen of the WHO said: “There are no epidemics yet – it’s not Goma in 1994. But we have to be very careful.” … The floods have devastated Pakistan’s flimsy public health system. More than 500 clinics have been damaged, while the government estimates that 30,000 “lady health workers” – a programme that is the backbone of the community health system – have been made homeless. …

Malaria threatens 2 million in Pakistan as floodwaters turn stagnant via Apocadocs

By Declan Walsh in Sehwan Sharif, www.guardian.co.uk,
Monday 4 October 2010 17.18 BST The helicopter triggers pandemonium on the newly formed island village, a cluster of mud houses poking over the surface of the sprawling inland sea in southern Pakistan. Villagers scramble towards the aircraft, arms aloft in supplication and eyes scrunched against the tornado whipped up by the rotor blades. Rope beds fly through the air, small children are blown to the ground. Yet they keep coming. A Pakistani soldier hefts bags of relief aid from the chopper door. If the villagers are lucky one may land in their arms. But sometimes the bags are flimsily packed and explode on impact with the ground, or the aid tumbles into the water. Either way, seconds later the chopper is gone, skimming over the water towards the next village-island. It may not return for days. These images of desperation were common in the early days of Pakistan’s flood when it started in August. But, two months later, in southern Sindh province they continue every day. The emergency continues. While the waters have receded in the mountains of the north and the plains of Punjab, in Sindh they stubbornly refuse to go away. The crisis is most severe in Dadu and Jamshoro districts. Here, a vast ocean dotted with small village-islands stretches to the horizon. Most are still inhabited. In Bachal Chana, south of Dadu, a couple of dozen teenagers and their fathers stand guard over their mud-walled homes. Before the floods this part of Sindh had a formidable problem with dacoits, highway bandits who rob traffic at gunpoint. Now the dacoits have taken to the water. “They have guns and boats, and if we go they’ll steal whatever we’ve got left,” said Ali Hassan, a 22-year-old farmer, pointing to the tiles on his roof. Conditions for the marooned villagers are miserable. Mangy dogs scuttle through deserted alleys; men lounge listlessly in courtyards, seeking shade from the oppressive heat. “Even the dogs are feeling the sorrow,” says one. Green, putrid water laps against the walls of the rainbow-coloured village mosque. The men complain of being bitten by swarms of mosquitoes that rise from the festering ponds. “We didn’t have mosquitoes here before,” says Yar Muhammad, a burly 40-year-old. … “It will probably take natural evaporation to get rid of most of it,” said John Long of Ocha, the UN humanitarian agency. Only then can reconstruction being. The scale is daunting, and resources are limited. “We’re going to have to make some tough choices,” said Long. “We’ve never seen anything this big before.”

Still marooned: plight of flood-stricken villagers in Pakistan’s Sindh province