‘Children in flood-hit areas twice as likely to catch a cold’

Health experts warn that the arrival of winter will bring with it the threat of several diseases such as pneumonia.


Ppi November 30, 2010

KARACHI: As the first winter winds turn the corner, hundreds of thousands of flood survivors living in flimsy tents across Sindh wonder how they will keep warm.

Health experts warn that the arrival of winter will bring with it the threat of several diseases such as pneumonia. Children, who are already malnourished since they have been living in relief camps without proper shelter and diet for around three months, are considered to be especially vulnerable to these illnesses.

“Children in flood-affected areas have a 100 per cent higher chance of catching a cold, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases since most of them are living in non-winterised tents,” explained child specialist and director of the National Institute of Child Health (NICH), Karachi, Professor Jamal Raza.

Winter has barely started and the number of children visiting the OPD of NICH has already reached 1,000 per day, he said, adding that it would likely rise to 1,200 in the coming months.

Most of these children have already been suffering from malnutrition and weight loss due to a poor diet, said Prof Raza. Their immune systems are weak and catching respiratory diseases is almost inevitable, unless they are provided with warm clothing, blankets, quilts and better shelters that can sustain the cold weather.

There is a shortage of dry firewood in those areas that are still inundated with floodwater, which means the residents have no means of staying warm. People living in flimsy tents have neither heaters nor anyplace to plug their heaters.

How to fend off the cold

The government has to work together with NGOs to provide flood survivors with sturdy tents that can keep out the cold. “The government should also take steps to provide basic construction materials like bricks and wood to people so that they can build mud houses and huts which are more effective in winters as compared to ordinary tents,” Prof Raza recommended.

Medical colleges and big district hospitals should pool in to help provide emergency medical services to flood survivors in their areas.

Parents in flood-hit areas do not have enough means to bring their sick children to big hospitals like the NICH. The government must thus mobilise rural and basic health centres and taluka and district hospitals, besides arranging mobile medical camps and ambulance services.

Dr M A Waheed of Children Hospital in North Nazimabad said parents should give their children a protein-rich diet which should include eggs. This helps to strengthen their immunity.

Risk of malaria, waterborne diseases

Professor Aisha Mehnaz, in-charge of Children Ward No 2 at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), said it is not just cold and pneumonia, but also cough, asthma, fever and waterborne diseases, especially malaria, that children in Sindh are vulnerable to.

She said more and more children suffering from malaria are being admitted to the ward. Currently, her department is receiving about 300 patients every day and almost half of them need emergency medical care.

Dr Waheed said when babies catch a cold, they often stop taking feed. He said these children develop a cold, fever, runny nose and pneumonia. These patients often require emergency medical help to save their lives, he added.

He said around 500 children visit the OPD of his hospital every day and almost 50 per cent of them suffer from winter-related diseases.

Meanwhile, Sindh Health Secretary Syed Hashim Raza, when contacted, said the provincial health department is “fully alert” for the upcoming battle against winter.

He said special teams of doctors will be sent to all affected areas from where they receive complaints of diseases. In many flood-hit areas, medical camps are still working. There are also enough doctors and a sufficient stock of medicine in these camps. Raza also said a polio immunisation drive is being carried out in Sindh and all children under the age of five are being vaccinated.

Save the Children distributes warmth

Every year 85,000 children die from pneumonia in Pakistan, making it the leading cause of death for children under five.

Save the Children, an international organisation, is distributing food, warm clothing, bedding and shelter materials to help people keep warm during the winter. It is also working with communities to educate them on how to protect themselves from pneumonia and is providing essential training to health workers on how to identify and treat potentially life threatening conditions.

“More children are going to die in the flood-hit areas if they don’t get the appropriate treatment in time. We are already seeing an increasing number of chest infection cases. The immediate need now is to make sure people can keep warm and have proper shelter,” said Mohammed Qazilbash, director of Save the Children in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2010.

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