Mirpur Khas, Hyderabad, Karachi, Dadu, Kambar Shahdad Kot, Jamshoro, Sujawal, Matiari, Larkana and Thatta districts were being covered during the campaign launched with Rs. 8 million funds provided by the international organization Sightsavers Pakistan while the Islamic Relief Pakistan (IRP) executed the fumigation operations in collaboration with the Sindh PDMA and health authorities.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Dec 13rd, 2022) As the rise of dengue cases across flood affected districts as well as other major cities of Sindh, mainly due to the stagnant flood water, remained of high concern for health authorities, a one-month drive was launched by Sightsavers Pakistan and Islamic Relief Pakistan for fumigation of ten most flood affected areas of the Sindh province to protect the local populations who are suffering from water borne diseases.
Mirpur Khas, Hyderabad, Karachi, Dadu, Kambar Shahdad Kot, Jamshoro, Sujawal, Matiari, Larkana and Thatta districts were being covered during the campaign launched with Rs. 8 million funds provided by the international organization Sightsavers Pakistan while the Islamic Relief Pakistan (IRP) executed the fumigation operations in collaboration with the Sindh PDMA and health authorities.
To ensure continuous support, Sightsavers and IRP has handed over all the equipment and machinery used for the fumigation operation to PDMA and Provincial Health department for future drives.
The stagnant flood water was the main source of causing the spread of multiple diseases especially dengue due to the limited preventive health care services. PDMA and Health Department in the province were of high concern that the dengue cases might go high if further coordinated efforts are not put in place to curb the incidences in post-flood situation. About 48,906 dengue cases were reported during January–November, 2021 including 183 deaths.
“Purpose of the one-month campaign was to contribute to the government’s efforts to reduce and control spread of dengue cases among flood affected communities of the most affected districts,” said Munazza Gillani, Country Director Sightsavers, while giving details of the operations.
She said that Sightsavers and IRP stayed in regular consultation and collaboration with the PDMA and provincial Health Department to execute our operations for dengue virus control with the help of local community volunteers. Under this campaign around 1.6 million population has been benefitted.
Over 80 percent of total population of Sindh province is directly or indirectly affected by the heavy floods. The extent of damages can be assessed with the fact that, out of 33 million affected population in the country, 11,905,599 affectees belong to Sindh. Reported casualties in the province are 747 and injured persons are 8422. Human suffering is paramount as 1,076,099 houses have been partially damaged, while 739,995 houses are completely washed away as a result of floods.
Country Director IRP Asif Sherazi while emphasizing on the need for meaningful and result-oriented partnerships said that “The scale of disaster is huge and losses are beyond estimations. It will take us years to rebuild and rehabilitate. Together with Sightsavers, we are trying to avert a health crisis in Sindh where the needs are mounting amidst approaching winters.”
He also said that they have further operations in the pipeline to provide more health care to the affected communities besides providing food and other relief goods.
