22 August, 2010

The flooding in Pakistan is the latest example of how disasters and emergencies can leave damaged health services struggling to provide medical care at a time when their services are most needed. The flood in Pakistan has demonstrated well the extreme need of safety of health facilities in terms of resilient structure and planned function.  

Results of initial rapid assessments in flood-affected provinces of Pakistan show that out of 1167 health facilities, more than 200 have been fully or partially damaged, including several hospitals. This has created a huge gap in service delivery to affected populations. Other facilities have been rendered inaccessible due to damaged paths, bridges and roads. 

Since the onset of the flood, more than 1.5 million people in the four flood-affected provinces have required medical treatment by health professionals and medical teams. As a result, hospitals, basic health units and other facilities are overwhelmed and are struggling to treat people who face multiple health threats. Medical camps and mobile health posts have been established to cover areas where no health facilities currently exist and to provide immediate care to those affected.   

The Health Cluster response strategy includes communicable disease control, provision of essential medicines, environmental health measures and support of medical teams for life-saving services. To implement the strategy several initiatives have been taken up by the health sector - 96 mobile and 250 static health posts are providing services in 16 districts of Sindh. In the Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 mobile teams have been deployed in the field to provide health services in the affected communities.  

The WHO One UN programme, Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA), through its implementing partners Helping Hands for Relief and Development and Johanitter International, has established four medical camps in Nowshera and Peshawar. 

The Ministry of Health has launched its health volunteer programme to increase the number of medical and paramedical staff available to work in affected areas. The programme deploys four-member teams for 15 days to the 50 most affected communities.