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PAK - ER - 2022 - Rimsha Zain (1) (1) Rimsha Zain pour Action contre la Faim

Headline

Pakistan

Floods in Pakistan plunge millions into poverty

Pakistan faces an annual monsoon season, but this year’s rains and subsequent flooding have been the most devastating in the country’s history, impacting nearly 33 million people. In the areas where flooding has been most severe, the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, an estimated 1.6 million children may be suffering from severe acute malnutrition and require emergency treatment (UNICEF).

One of the top challenges in the wake of the flooding is public health: damaged infrastructure, stagnant water, and inadequate sanitation facilities have made it difficult for people to access healthcare while making it easy for diseases to spread. Action Against Hunger manages long-running health, water, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, and food security programs in Sindh province, where 520 health facilities have been completely or partially damaged in the floods, limiting access to health services.

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Pakistan

Pakistan floods 2022

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Pakistan

Pakistan floods 2022

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Our teams run 8 nutrition treatment centers in the flood-affected areas of Sindh province, where severely malnourished children can receive lifesaving treatment. Our medical teams have reported a significant increase in the number of patients this year compared to the same time last year.

 

"We were receiving 25-30 patients a day before, but now the number has reached 45 and sometimes 55"
Ghulam RASOOL
Sindh, Pakistan

 

The recent floods have contaminated the water, there is an exponential increase in cases related to diarrhea and vomiting in our clinic,” says Ghulam Rasool, head of one of our nutrition treatment centers in Sindh.

Though the rains are less intense than they were a few months ago, the flood waters have yet to recede in many southern areas of Pakistan. Stagnant water has created breeding grounds for mosquitoes, resulting in malaria outbreaks in 32 districts across the country. Our teams are responding to this health crisis and have distributed emergency kits in the Badin and Thatta districts in Sindh, each containing a jerry can, water container, soaps, water purification tablets, and mosquito nets.

In the village, water has accumulated after the rains and has increased the number of mosquitoes. They cause disease and we use coils to keep them away, but that doesn’t help much. As a result, many children and adults have contracted malaria,” says Laila, a woman who lives in Aage din Gah village in Sindh.

 

 

DOUBLE PUNISHMENT FOR LOCAL AGRICULTURE

 

Among the people hardest hit by the floods are farmers and rural communities. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that as many as 9.4 million acres of crops – including staples such as cotton, sugarcane, vegetables, fodder for livestock, and orchards – in Pakistan were flooded in August.

Farmers had already been facing an uphill battle in Pakistan, where rising sea levels have contributed to increasingly high saline levels in soil for many years, making it difficult for crops to flourish. Now, with water flooding their agricultural lands, they are unable to plant crops at all. Additionally, one million livestock were reportedly killed in the floods, depriving rural families of an important source of nutritious food and income.

 

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Pakistan

Pakistan floods 2022

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Pakistan

Pakistan floods 2022

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The floods forced people to flee their destroyed or damages homes, and displacement camps have formed along the main roads, which are located on higher ground. Many people have no choice but to live in temporary, shared shelters, and winter is fast approaching. People desperately need stable housing and access to clean water and food, but stagnant water prevents homes from being repaired or built anew and the prospect of future harvests remain uncertain.

Action Against Hunger is working tirelessly to help people impacted by the floods in Pakistan. Since September, we have distributed 41,000 emergency kits in Sindh and Balochistan provinces, helping families to cope. Our teams are also continuing to provide lifesaving nutrition services and to support health centers in rural areas.

 

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