The Health Emergencies Programme at WHO Pakistan Country Office supports federal and provincial ministries of health in responding rapidly and effectively to natural and public health emergencies under a coordinated incident management system.
The Programme works alongside national partners to help build the capacities required to rapidly detect, respond to and recover from emergency health threats.
Pakistan is vulnerable to a range of natural disasters, including droughts, floods and earthquakes. These events have had a profound impact on the lives of millions of people, causing widespread damage and disruption.
According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021, Pakistan was the 8th most affected country by extreme weather events between 2000 and 2019, experiencing frequent severe natural disasters including floods, droughts, heatwaves and pandemics. Monsoon-induced floods are the most recurrent and destructive, with catastrophic impacts on human health, infrastructure and livelihoods.
When outbreaks, conflicts or natural disasters endanger lives, WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme is at the forefront of the response. The Pakistan Country Office aims to minimize the health consequences of outbreaks and emergencies by:
strengthening capacities to detect, prevent and respond to health emergencies;
mitigating the risk of high threat diseases and infectious hazards;
detecting and assessing emergency health threats to inform public health decision-making;
responding rapidly and effectively to emergencies under a coordinated incident management system; and
ensuring WHO's work in emergencies is effectively managed, sustainably financed, adequately staffed and operationally ready.
