Hunger, disease ‘alarmingly high’ in drought-hit Pakistan: Red Cross

LONDON: One of the worst droughts in Pakistan’s history has triggered “alarmingly high” levels of malnutrition and disease in the hardest hit areas where people have been forced to drink salty or contaminated water, the Red Cross said on Friday.

Women, especially those pregnant or breastfeeding, and children are particularly vulnerable to diarrhoea, vomiting and fever brought on by a lack of safe drinking water in the worst affected areas of the southern Sindh and Balochistan.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said the organisation was ramping up support to the Pakistan Red Crescent Society volunteers and staff with the release of 315,000 Swiss francs ($316,000) in emergency funds.

The Red Cross will aim to reach 15,000 of the most vulnerable people threatened by disease and drought, it said.

“This will allow the Red Crescent to improve access to safe drinking water through solar boreholes, storage facilities, improved water treatment and other services,” the IFRC’s head of country office, Thomas Gurtner, said in a statement. “…the most vulnerable people (will) receive cash transfers that give them full control of providing for their families.”