Plagues,
Pestilences and Diseases
Two million sick from Pakistan floods
* From correspondents in Islamabad
* From: AFP
* September 23, 2011 5:17AM
TWO million Pakistanis have fallen ill from diseases since monsoon
rains left the southern region under several metres of water, the
country's disaster authority says.
More than 350 people have been killed and over eight million
people have been affected this year by floods that officials say
are worse in parts of Sindh province than last year, when the
country saw its worst ever disaster.
Malaria, diarrhoea, skin disease and snake bites were among the
health problems facing two million people across 23 Sindh
districts, said Irshad Bhatti, spokesman of National Disaster
Management Authority.
"In some areas, diseases also spread out because of dead animals
but there is no major break-out of any epidemic," Mr Bhatti said,
calling for the donation of mosquito nets and medicines to help
the aid effort.
The World Health Organization has said that there is a desperate
shortage of clean drinking water in the south, which has also
triggered outbreaks of acute diarrhoea and other waterborne
disease.
The UN's children agency has pledged to distribute 200,000 litres
of water to 40,000 people daily and deploy 40 more water tankers
soon, to avert further disease.