UNITED NATIONS: United Nations agencies have lauded the people of Pakistan for their “extraordinary generosity” in providing food, shelter and other resources to the displaced fellow countrymen. “The everyday people of Pakistan are the real heroes of this current crisis in Pakistan,” Martin Mogwanja, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan, told a news conference in Islamabad on Thursday, according to a transcript released at UN Headquarters in New York. “They set an inspiring example of extraordinary generosity for the whole world.” He said he hoped this example is followed by the governments of the world, whose continued urgent support is desperately needed to help those uprooted from their homes by the anti-Taliban military operations in Pakistan’s north-west. Most of the displaced are living with host communities, and the health-care, sanitation and water systems in the affected areas are under enormous strain, it was pointed out. “There are major challenges facing the displaced and those people still caught in the conflict area, for example in the Swat Valley and other conflict zones, where health facilities have been damaged or destroyed,” said Eric Laroche, Assistant Director General of the Health Action in Crises Cluster of the WHO. He cited diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, measles, surgical emergencies and mental trauma as some of the most severe threats to people’s health, and highlighted the need for more medicines, equipment and staff, particularly female workers. Despite these challenges, Dr. Laroche pointed out that over 30 potential communicable disease outbreaks have been investigated by the disease early warning system led by WHO. All of them have been quickly controlled by aid agencies working in the health sector.
Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has voiced concern about the situation of women and children caught up in the crisis, especially those who have remained behind in areas of conflict. UNICEF’s Louis -Georges Arsenault told reporters that while the full extent of their situation is not yet understood, it is believed they have been living under intolerable circumstances without proper access to clean, potable water, medical services and food.—Agencies