UN sees looming health crisis from South Asia floods

UN sees looming health crisis from South Asia floods
source: Daily Times.com.pk

* Rain, blocked roads hinder relief efforts g Canada offers emergency aid relief

GENEVA: Millions of people could fall ill with malaria, dengue fever and other diseases if emergency aid does not reach those stranded by floodwaters in South Asia within days, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

The UN Children’s Fund UNICEF said stagnant waters left behind after intense monsoons in India, Bangladesh and Nepal were “a lethal breeding ground” for diarrhoeal and water-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. “Entire villages are days away from a health crisis if people are not reached in the coming days,” UNICEF’s health chief for India, Marzio Babille, said in a statement.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said acute respiratory and skin infections, food-borne ailments and snake bites were also threatening the 30 million people affected by flash flooding in the region. Many people in affected areas are relying on dirty surface water for their basic needs, with water sources contaminated or still submerged in the wake of the floods.

“The main problem is access to clean water and sanitation,” Chaib told a news briefing, noting that UN agencies, other aid groups and governments were working to ensure water, rehydration salts and other medical supplies reached those in need. Many remote communities and villages are only accessible by boat or through air drops, and security concerns in some areas has further hindered efforts to deliver humanitarian aid, UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said.

More rain and blocked roads have delayed efforts to help 300,000 people in southern Nepal hit by major flooding, amid fears of a rise in water-borne illnesses, officials said Tuesday. “We are concerned about water-borne diseases like diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid,” Arjun Bahadur Singh, Nepal’s health ministry spokesman, told AFP.

“There is no shortage of medicine. However, accessibility is a problem: highways are blocked, there is no transportation and it is very hard for our medical response teams to get to some of the worst affected areas,” he said.

Flooding eased in most parts of Bangladesh on Tuesday with major improvements expected over the coming days, the head of country’s flood centre said, but the death toll rose to 290. “All the major rivers are receding fast. Except in the eastern part of the capital, we will now see some dramatic improvement from later today (Tuesday),” said Saiful Hossain, the head of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

The flood centre monitors the water level of all the major rivers in Bangladesh and India. However, at least eight more deaths were reported Tuesday, mostly children who drowned in swirling waters, taking the death toll from the last two weeks’ floods to 164, government spokesman Golam Kibria said.

Canada offers aid relief:Canada pledged one million dollars (950,000 US dollars) in emergency aid relief Monday for victims of devastating floods that have hit India, Bangladesh and Nepal. “Canada is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life and by the destruction that has occurred over the past few weeks in Bangladesh, India and Nepal,” Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement. “Canada stands with these countries as they carry out their relief efforts,’ he said. agencies