ISLAMABAD: The Uni­ted Nat­ions Office for the Coordination of Humani­ta­rian Affairs (UNOCHA) has warned that food security, livelihood-related assistance and public health are the biggest concerns, as the UNOSAT in its latest analysis, estimated that 4.5 million people remain exposed to, or are living close to, flooded areas.

Evidence shows that people affected by floods are increasingly relying on negative coping strategies, such as selling income-producing assets, increased debt, withdrawing children from school and skipping meals, the UN agency said in its latest report.

An estimated 1.1 million people are at a risk of sliding from acute food and livelihood crisis situations to humanitarian emergency “food security situations” due to insufficient support, the report said.

The majority of the 14.6m people in need of food and livelihood-related assistance live in rural areas and rely upon agriculture and livestock for their livelihood.

Farmers who have missed the current Rabi season due to lack of access to agricultural inputs need to be given priority in terms of support for Kharif season, the report suggested.

Public health concerns are high in flood-affected areas as there are continued pockets of high malaria incidences, with high malaria positivity rates reported in 12 flood-affected districts of Sindh and Balochistan.

Currently, sporadic cases of cholera are being reported with the potential to spread given the poor access to safe water and sanitation.

Around 1.6m severely malnourished children are in need of life-saving assistance and close to 80,000 children need urgent medical intervention.

Many displaced people have started to return to their places of origin, but they are returning to extremely difficult circumstances, the report observed.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2023