Pakistan: Water logging increases difficulties even after 4 months of a flood, 4 million children forced to live near contaminated water

According to UNICEF, more than 4 million children in Pakistan are still living near contaminated and stagnant flood water. It has been more than four months since the national emergency was declared over the threat to existence and well-being. Dawn reported in Pakistan.

Many families in Jacobabad have little more than mere clothes to cover their makeshift shelters from the stagnant flood waters, while the temperature dropped to seven degrees Celsius at night. UNICEF and partners have started providing children's kits and jackets, among other items, to people living in mountainous areas, reports Dawn. UNICEF aims to reach 200,000 children, women, and men.

Acute respiratory infections are seen in children

More than four months after a national emergency was declared in Pakistan, children are still living near contaminated water. According to Dawn, acute respiratory infections have been observed in children, a leading cause of child mortality worldwide, on the rise in flood-affected areas.

The number of children with severe acute malnutrition in flood-affected areas monitored by UNICEF nearly doubled between July and December 2021, and an estimated 1.5 million children are still in need of life-saving nutrition.

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