SEHWAN: A displaced girl carries a bottle of water filled with stagnant floodwater, as she makes her way to the displaced family’s tent in a camp, set up by the Al-Khidmat Foundation.—Reuters
SEHWAN: A displaced girl carries a bottle of water filled with stagnant floodwater, as she makes her way to the displaced family’s tent in a camp, set up by the Al-Khidmat Foundation.—Reuters

ISLAMABAD: The United Nat­ions and Pakistan will present a rev­ised appeal for the ‘Floods Response Plan’ in Geneva on Tuesday (today), seeking $816 million to control a surge in water-borne diseases following the country’s worst floods in decades, the UN resident coordinator for Pakistan announced on Monday.

During a press briefing in Geneva, Julien Harneis said, “We are now entering into a second wave of deaths and destruction with the wave of diseases — malaria, dengue, skin diseases, cabbies and acute malnutrition.

“There will be an increase in child morbidity and it will be pretty terrible unless we act rapidly to support the government in increasing the provision of health, nutrition and water and sanitation services across the affected areas.”

The wide-scale flooding of the country resulted in health and nutrition crises. Peo­ple are defecating in the water and drinking the same and children washing in these waters, a situation that is driver of illness and diseases at a time when 1,700 health facilities and hospitals have been destroyed or damaged.

The UN humanitarian coordinator said that food security has become a very significant challenge along with nutrition as WFP and FAO has estimated that the number of food insecured people may rise to 7.2 million.

A statement from the Foreign Office on Monday said the flash appeal had been upscaled “on the basis of updated on-ground needs ass­e­ssment”, and would be unveiled jointly by the Pakistani government and the UN in Geneva on Tuesday.

Ministerial level participation includes Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman, while Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will be participating virtually from Islamabad.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths and Director General World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will represent the UN, along with Mr Harneis, the UNRC in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

PIA privatisation
11 Jul, 2025

PIA privatisation

THE government’s latest push to offload PIA signals a bold move, considering the failure of the first such attempt...
Beyond expectations
11 Jul, 2025

Beyond expectations

THESE are tough times, but the country is lucky enough to still be considered home by a large expatriate workforce,...
Train in vain
11 Jul, 2025

Train in vain

TALK of ‘revival’ of the long-dead Karachi Circular Railway has turned into a running joke for denizens of this...
No negotiations
10 Jul, 2025

No negotiations

IT seems like the appeal from Kot Lakhpat Jail has fallen on deaf ears. “[…] The time for negotiations has...
Speech policing
Updated 10 Jul, 2025

Speech policing

Sweeping accusations have once more exposed just how broadly and arbitrarily Peca is being applied.
Continued detention
10 Jul, 2025

Continued detention

THE continued detention of BYC head Mahrang Baloch and five other activists indicates that the state is uninterested...