Attachments
Highlights
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Floods waters are receding in some areas, however large parts of Sindh and eastern Balochistan province remain underwater; water-borne diseases, unsanitary conditions, and rising malnutrition rates.
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The hardest hit districts report a threefold increase in malaria cases and alarming increases in acute watery diarrhea.
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Around 23,900 schools, 1,460 health facilities and 13,000 km of roads have also reportedly been damaged. More than 5,000 schools are being used as temporary relief camps.
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UNICEF continues to focus efforts on scaling up lifesaving assistance; 224,000 people have been reached through 86 mobile health camps and outreach services, 40,000 women and children have been reached with nutrition interventions and more than 265,000 people have been reached with safe drinking water.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
The stagnant water around the camps and ad hoc settlements of displaced families are a fertile breeding ground for vector-borne and water-borne diseases including malaria and dengue fever. In Sindh and Balochistan, the two most-affected provinces, acute watery diarrhoea and malaria are the most reported diseases. In Sindh, one in every five health consultations have been for diarrhoeal disease while one in ten patients have been treated for malaria. In Balochistan, a quarter of consultations have been for diarrhoea while 8 per cent of patients have been reported with malaria. In addition to the destroyed and damaged homes and displacement of millions, basic facilities like schools and health structures have been damaged by the flood. This has impeded services that are needed to save lives and protect children. Over 23,900 schools and 1,460 health facilities have been damaged by flooding. More than 5,000 schools are being used as temporary relief camps.
Loss and displacement have profoundly impacted the psychosocial well-being of children and their caregivers, with an estimated 50 per cent reporting signs of distress as per the preliminary findings of the inter-agency rapid needs assessment. Children have lost their houses and schools leaving them without a routine and vulnerable to psychological and other protection issues.
Families have lost their livelihood sources and depend on scarce humanitarian aid. Families are resorting to negative coping mechanisms such as child marriage and child labour. Mental health and welfare systems do not generally provide adequate services and child protection services were non-existent in many affected areas.