Risk of Fatal Epidemics Worsens in Pakistan

Risk of Fatal Epidemics Worsens in Flood Ravaged Pakistan

23 August 2010 - Millions of homeless children and families are surrounded by infested floodwaters and the growing risk from epidemics of fatal diseases as the flooding continues in Pakistan.

Save the Children has five-thousand staff working in 17 districts in all four provinces in northern Pakistan, one of the only aid groups able to reach some of the most remote areas using helicopters, donkeys and boats to deliver doctors and medical supplies to children and families.

“As rates of diarrheal diseases in children continue to increase at an alarming rate, mosquito-borne malaria is going to be another major challenge in the days ahead,” says Ian Woolverton, with Save the Children in Pakistan.

“Hospital and medical camps in the affected areas are becoming increasingly overwhelmed with each passing day,” he says.

Save the Children is one of the largest humanitarian agencies responding on the ground to the crisis in Pakistan, and has so far reached more than 69,000 children and families with medical care, food, tents, and shelter and hygiene kits.

“The poor communities of Sindh and southern Punjab cannot afford immunizations for their children and as the area is normally dry, the young children do not possess natural resistance to viruses and bacteria,” says Mr Woolverton.

The monsoon season in Pakistan is expected to continue through September and Save the Children has issued a global appeal for a minimum of $55 million USD to directly support its responses to the needs of children and families in Pakistan.

Save the Children’s goal is to reach two-million children and adults in Pakistan within the next six months.

Donations for the Pakistan Emergency Appeal at Save the Children New Zealand can be made in several ways:
• www.savethechildren.org.nz
• call 0800 167 168
• send a cheque, to Save the Children New Zealand, at Freepost PO Box 6584, Marion Square, Wellington.
• donate at local Save the Children stores.
• join the Children’s Emergency Fund to help Save the Children be prepared to respond quickly to disasters or emergencies like the Pakistan floods.

ENDS

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