Rescued flood victims sit in a boat, following rains and floods during the monsoon season in village Arazi, in Sehwan, Pakistan, September 11, 2022. REUTERS/Yasir Rajput/File Photo
At least nine people died on Monday of infectious and water-borne diseases that have attacked tens of thousands of people in flood-hit Pakistan, government data showed, taking the toll from such causes to 318.
The death toll from the deluge itself has touched 1,559, including 551 children and 318 women, which does not include the disease deaths, the country’s disaster management agency said.
As flood waters start to recede, which officials say may take two to six months in different areas, stagnant waters have led to diseases like malaria, dengue fever, diarrhoea and skin problems, mainly in the southern Sindh province.
gastroenteritis, acute diarrhoea and suspected malaria on Monday. It has reported a total of 318 deaths from diseases since July 1.
The report said over 72,000 patients were treated on Monday at makeshift or mobile hospitals set up in flood-hit regions.
Over 2.7 million people have been treated at these facilities since July 1, the report said.
Hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced are living in the open, exposing them to the diseases spread in the stagnant waters. They are in dire need of food, shelter, clean drinking water, toilets and medicines, authorities have said.
UNICEF has termed the situation of the families “beyond bleak”.
It says an estimated 16 million children have been impacted, and at least 3.4 million girls and boys remain in need of immediate, lifesaving support.