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WHO scales up humanitarian support in Sindh, 7 October
KARACHI, 7 October 2011: “In view of the current flood crisis, World Health Organization (WHO) will be scaling up its humanitarian response in all the affected areas in Sindh to address the health issues faced by the population displaced by the floods. WHO is already working side by side with the Sindh provincial and district health authorities and health implementing partners to comprehensively address health problems, but more funds are urgently needed in order to save precious human lives.” This was stated by Dr. Guido Sabatinelli, the WHO Representative in Pakistan, while speaking to the provincial Secretary Health and other senior officers of the Health Department during his visit to Sindh that concluded yesterday.
A special mission comprised of senior technical experts of the WHO Country Office and Sindh provincial sub-office visited the WHO Humanitarian Hubs in Hyderabad and Sukkur to see and hear first-hand about the health impact of the flood emergency and the organization's operations throughout Sindh. They visited hospitals, health centers, nutrition stabilization centers, immunization sites and displaced persons in Hyderabad, Sukkur, and Larkana including Naudero, Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, and Community Midwives workstation in Village Katchi Unar.
WHO has been collaborating with the health authorities and implementing partners, to reduce the burden of preventable deaths and illness through life-saving interventions among flood-affected populations since the 2010 mega flood, but the current floods in South Pakistan and the poor donor response has stretched the capacity of the health authorities and the organization to address the factors contributing to the main mortality risks such as acute diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, measles, malnutrition, and maternal and neo-natal mortality.
WHO's Emergency and Humanitarian Assistance (EHA) team has been focusing on the provision of essential primary health care and health services to the affected population; mitigation of communicable disease outbreaks through intensive surveillance and early response to disease threats; environmental health interventions including water quality analysis and treatment with priority given to schools and health institutions; health education informing the general public; ensuring the provision of emergency essential reproductive health services; and the treatment of acute malnutrition and nutritional surveillance.
The mission concluded that the conditions in which the flood-displaced persons are living in camps and temporary settlements is highly critical, with limited access to safe water and no functional sanitation facilities. WHO Communicable Disease Epidemiologist, Dr Rana Kakar, stated that “Overcrowding, inadequate hygiene and poor nutrition increase the vulnerability of the affected population, and the situation continues to deteriorate with every passing day so that the risk of an overwhelming outbreak of waterborne disease is dangerously increased. Surveillance teams have already identified 57 outbreaks of diarrhea, but they were at an early stage where they could be controlled by prompt action.” During the investigations, more than 96% of the 294 water sources tested by WHO environmental health team were found contaminated. In response, WHO provided hygiene kits, Jerry cans, water filters, water disinfection tablets and hygiene information. In view of the threat of diarrhea and cholera, WHO has strengthened some hospitals to provide diarrhea care by provision of inpatient beds and medical supplies.
As many health facilities are still under water in Badin, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar, mobile teams are providing very basic health services. In other districts, health facilities serving the flood -affected people were also found to be highly unhygienic, due to lack of water and sanitation services. While 805,264 patient consultations have been reported, serious gaps exist in nutrition, and maternal, newborn and child health coverage, and immunization, not only in officially registered camps for displaced population but also for the rest of the population. Only 32% of health facilities in these districts have adequate stocks of medicines, vaccines, equipments and other consumables to last more than one week. WHO has provided essential medicines to Sindh flood-affected population directly or through its implementing partners to cover approximately 450,000 people but the needs are obviously greater.
In collaboration with health partners, WHO interventions are scaling up efforts of local health facilities to provide emergency essential reproductive health services including antenatal and postnatal care and developing referral mechanisms for them through social mobilization, training of female paramedics and provision of the necessary supplies and logistics. The nutritional needs of infants and very young children are being addressed through stabilization centres with provision of equipment and medicines and proper monitoring, particularly for the severely malnourished children.
In view of the emergency situation, WHO senior technical experts held a marathon meeting with the Sindh Health Secretary Mr Rizwan Ahmed and the top leadership of the Sindh Health Department including Special Secretary Health Dr Sikander Panhwar, Additional Secretary Development Dr Khalid Sheikh, Director General Dr Hafeez Memon to delineate the government - WHO biennial program for 2012 and 2013. The WHO's Country Cooperation Strategy for the next six years was also introduced including steps to be taken in the post-devolution scenario of the Health Sector. Mr Rizwan Ahmed strongly praised the efforts of WHO describing it as a trusted technical partner of the Government of Sindh.
Dr Jorge Martinez, WHO EHA Coordinator, described the donor response this year, “As of today, besides Norway which supports selected districts in Sindh, the USA, UK and Spain are the only donor countries which have pledged funds in support of WHO to assist the millions of flood affected Pakistanis. These donations account to only 9% of the funding needs of the health sector to properly response to the emergency”.
World Health Day 2011: combating drug resistance, 7 April
ISLAMABAD - Drug resistance is becoming more severe and many infections are no longer easily cured, leading to prolonged and expensive treatment and greater risk of death, warns the World Health Organization (WHO) on World Health Day. This day is celebrated every year on the 7th April to mark the establishment of WHO on that day in 1948. Under the theme "Combat Drug Resistance", WHO has called for urgent and concerted action by governments, health professionals, industry and civil society and patients to slow down the spread of drug resistance, limit its impact today and preserve medical advances for future generations. “The message on this World Health Day is loud and clear. The world is on the brink of losing these miracle cures,” said WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. “In the absence of urgent corrective and protective actions, the world is heading towards a post-antibiotic era, in which many common infections will no longer have a cure and, once again, kill unabated.” The discovery and use of antimicrobial drugs to treat diseases such as leprosy, tuberculosis, gonorrhea and syphilis changed the course of medical – and human - history. Now, those discoveries and the generations of drugs that followed them are at risk, as high levels of drug resistance threaten their effectiveness.
Last year, at least 440,000 new cases of multidrug resistant-tuberculosis were detected and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis has been reported in 69 countries to date. The malaria parasite is acquiring resistance to even the latest generation of medicines, and resistant strains causing gonorrhea and shigella are limiting treatment options. Serious infections acquired in hospitals can become fatal because they are so difficult to treat and drug-resistant strains of microorganism are spread from one geographical location to another in today's interconnected and globalized world. Resistance is also emerging to the antiretroviral medicines used to treat people living with HIV.
“On this World Health Day, WHO is issuing a policy package to get everyone, especially governments and their drug regulatory systems, on the right track, with the right measures, quickly,” said Dr Chan. “The trends are clear and ominous. No action today means no cure tomorrow. At a time of multiple calamities in the world, we cannot allow the loss of essential medicines – essential cures for many millions of people – to become the next global crisis.”
In his message on the occasion Dr Hussein A. Gezairy WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean has stressed that the period exceeding six decades since the establishment of WHO has witnessed key improvements in the control of diseases by antimicrobials. However, we are seeing now a decline in the cure rates of diseases due to the development of resistance by all kinds of microorganisms including bacteria, viruses and parasites resulting in a weakening of the response of antimicrobials and, consequently, reduction in their effect. He has warned that this situation threatens to return the world to the era before the discovery of the medicines that are so essential in controlling infectious diseases, the heavy burden of which needs to be addressed urgently.
Dr Gezairy has emphasized that the WHO and its partners from regional countries have a responsibility to support the scientific progress made in medicines manufacturing technology through adopting best practices to minimize the risk of antimicrobial resistance. The effective use of medicines is promoted by following a sound scientific process that ensures that medicines are manufactured according to quality standards, are rationally prescribed through accurate diagnosis and are only dispensed based on a confirmed medical prescription. The correct application of scientific standards must be accompanied by awareness and support from local communities in all countries, besides the role of scientific and civil institutions and the individual’s responsibility in the cautious and careful use of medicines, he added.
Dr Guido Sabatinelli the WHO Representative in Pakistan pointed out that Pakistan was one of the highest-risk countries for MDR-TB and revealed that a 2008-assessment conducted by WHO listed eight main problematic areas in the context of Pakistan. These include insufficient quality and capacity of the laboratory service for culture and DST, lack of representative data on the incidence and prevalence of drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, lack of a unified approach to the programmatic management of the MDR-TB in Pakistan, unknown quality and limited availability of the second-line drugs, absence of appropriate follow-up of patients suffering from the MDR-TB by out-patient facilities resulting in dramatic proportion of defaulters, weak coordination of activities related to the registration and control of drug-resistant TB, deficiencies in infection control measures both in the healthcare facilities and bacteriological laboratories and gaps in the knowledge of healthcare personnel to perform tasks related to management of the MDR-TB. “All these problem areas are being addressed by the National TB Control Program with support from the WHO and GFATM” he added.
Saudi Fund for Development hands over ambulances and medical supplies to FATA Health Secretariat and KP Health Department, September 2011
ISLAMABAD: In a handing over-taking over ceremony at the WHO Country Office, Officials of Saudi Fund for Development handed over Ambulances, Emergency Health Care kits, Diarrhea Disease kits, Secondary Care kits, Female hygiene kits, IT equipment and vehicles for surveillance officers to the officials of District Health Departments of Khyber Pukhtunkhawa and FATA . Guest of honour, Chief Engineer Abdullah M. Al-Shoaibi from SDF handed over keys of ambulances to the respective Health Department representatives of KP and FATA.
In this handing over ceremony, SFD handed over 26 ambulances – 20 to Depart of Health, KP and 6 to FATA health secretariat, 105 Emergency Health care kits, 79 Diarrheal Disease Kits, 21 Secondary Healthcare kits, 8000 female hygiene and hygiene kits and IT equipment and Vehicles (12) for surveillance officers of DEWS.
The Saudi Fund Development (SFD), has given the grant of US$ 9,554,988 for World Health Organization (WHO) project, “Provision of Comprehensive Primary Health Care (PHC) interventions including MNCH/RH, EPI, psychosocial support and referral for emergency health care through the assistance given by Saudi Fund for Development for the purchase of medicines, vehicles, essential and specialized equipment, construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of health facilities and 7 warehouses along with establishment of 10 stabilisation centres to facilitate the conflict affected population in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and FATA, Pakistan.”
Speaking on the occasion Dr Guido Sabatinelli, WHO Representative for Pakistan, thanked Saudi Fund for Development for graciously granting WHO the opportunity to facilitate the conflict affected population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. Dr. Guido informed that the project was initiated last year in August and is expected to be completed in September 2011. He further added that major components of SDF are Provision of essential medicines, Ambulances for Department of Health, Nutrition Stabilization Centers, WASH interventions at health facilities – water supply and healthcare waste management, IT equipment for Surveillance officers and vehicles for Disease Early Warning System.
Chief Engineer Abdullah M. Al-Shoaibi reiterated the support of the Saudi Government to WHO and laid emphasis on saving the lives of people living in the conflict areas and providing them health care facilities.
