Pakistan: Officials raise concerns over outbreak of waterborne diseases as floods recede

Pakistan is reeling as relentless monsoon rains have flooded a third of the country. More than 1,100 people are confirmed killed and thousands have been displaced.

Amid the ongoing crisis, officials have raised concerns over the spread of waterborne diseases. Thousands of people are impacted as the waters from rains began to recede in many parts of the country. There is an urgent need for shelter, food and clean water, and other basic amenities.

News agency The Associated Press reported that doctors in the country's flood-hit areas are treating people suffering from diarrhoea, skin infections and other waterborne ailments.

As quoted by AP, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, the health minister in the country’s worst-affected province of Sindh, said that over 4,210 medical camps have been set up in the flood-hit areas of the province.

Pechuho also mentioned that doctors are treating people who are suffering from skin and waterborne diseases, which are common during floods.

AP quoted Farhad Khan, a doctor,as saying, "Initially we received injured people, but now diarrhoea is common." Khan is a physician in charge of a medical camp set up in the northwestern town of Charsadda.

Farhad mentioned that it is one of the worst flood-hit districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where floods killed 257 people since mid-June.

This comes after the United Nations formally issued an appeal for $160 million in emergency funding to the country.

UN chief Antonio Guterres will visit Pakistan next week in "solidarity" with victims, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

Stephane Dujarric told a news briefing, "With the tragic situation facing millions of men, women and children impacted by historic floods in Pakistan, the Secretary-General will travel to the country next week for a solidarity visit."

Dujarric saidthat Guterres plans to arrive in the capital Islamabad on September 9, before travelling to "the areas most impacted by this unprecedented climate catastrophe."

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