Pakistan at Risk of Large-Scale Disease Outbreaks - WaterAid

Families "have even been drinking flood water because there is no other option, a recipe for large-scale disease outbreaks. We are doing everything we can to reach them," WaterAid Pakistan Country Director Arif Jabbar Khan said.

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Pakistani health officials are visiting some of the worst affected communities in Sindh (southern Pakistan). Malaria cases are rising in this region after weeks of rains and floods that have caused an increase in stagnant water.

WaterAid's Pakistan Country Director, Arif Jabbar Khan, said that "families are now living on the banks of overflowing canals and rivers in ramshackle huts made of bamboo and plastic," warning of the risk of large-scale disease outbreaks as people have no choice but to drink floodwater.

Devastating floods have hit Pakistan following heavy monsoon rains since early June. Of the country's 154 districts, 116 have been impacted, with over 1 100 people killed by the floods and over 33 million affected.  

"Women's privacy and menstrual hygiene are also at risk; the temporary latrines are barely covered and do not provide the privacy women need to manage their periods. Women, already a taboo subject in the country, are now forced to use dirty clothes as sanitary pads as they have had to give it all up in a short time," the Pakistan Country Director further said.