THE catastrophe is only now starting to take shape. As the floodwaters continue to make their way to the south of the country, people who didn’t have much, to begin with, are confronted with what seem to be insurmountable obstacles.
Numerous large areas of Pakistan have turned into watery tombs for livestock, residences, and standing crops. Over 1,200 people have died thus far.
One of the numbers with the worst repercussions is that 180 of the almost 900 damaged health institutions have been completely destroyed, according to WHO. Naturally, gastrointestinal problems and skin infections have grown widespread as a result of the widespread presence of stagnant water, which prevents people from practising even a minimal level of hygiene.
The Sindh government reports that approximately 200,000 cases of acute watery diarrhoea and dysentery among children in flood-affected districts were documented in August alone. This will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe because it will take time to restore the damaged health facilities.
The health infrastructure is already not up to par in many urban centres of Pakistan, and rural areas, in general, have been extremely underserved. Some parts of Sindh and Balochistan have seen inadequate investment even in primary healthcare facilities that are properly staffed and accessible to the local population.
The inequality in the distribution of healthcare services comes to the fore most starkly when major road accidents occur on intercity highways and many of the injured dies for want of timely medical attention.
Meanwhile, income disparities and lack of awareness — and in some cases, cultural practices — have contributed to chronic medical issues among sections of the population. Pakistan has one of the highest prevalence of stunting in the world, with 38pc of children under five years of age affected; in Sindh, the number is almost 50pc. The country also has the second highest global burden of hepatitis C, with 8m of the population infected. After a lull of 15 months, polio cases are also making a comeback with at least 17 having been reported until September.
Despite the fact that Covid-19 did not have the same devastating effects as it did in some of the neighbouring nations, the floods are causing a lethal health catastrophe because of a centralised government reaction and probably other causes that are still unknown. In the coming weeks and months, when the impacted population outpaces the capacity of the system, its enormity will become clear.
