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WHO Leads Health Cluster in Response
to Pakistan Earthquake
PAHO Deploys Technical Expertise
By the end of October,
the devastating 7.6 earthquake that struck Pakistan on October
8 had claimed 55,000 lives and injured more than 75,000. The
onset of winter weather and the difficulty in reaching many
of the injured could cause these numbers to climb. An estimated
four million people are in need of health services and more
than three million are homeless.
The number of patients
evacuated by helicopter to hospitals outside the the affected
areas has reached 20,000, although the daily number of air
evacuations to hospitals has decreased to 80. Of more than
13,000 surgical operations carried out in these hospitals,
46 required amputations. The 28 medical teams mobilized by
the Ministry of Health and WHO to remote areas have now returned
to Islamabad. The teams treated more than 100,000 patients
during the last two weeks of October.
| UN
and National Authorities Manage
Relief Aid in Pakistan
National authorities and the UN are
using the Logistics Support System (LSS) in Pakistan
to manage the tremendous amount of humanitarian relief
arriving in the earthquake-stricken region. The LSS,
developed by six UN agencies, inventories all incoming
donations and monitors their distribution to warehouses
in the affected areas. As is the case with SUMA, the
LSS system enhances transparency and accountability
in humanitarian operations. But it takes the SUMA system
one step further, providing a common platform for sharing
information among agencies to avoid duplicating efforts
and to improve coordination. The system has been translated
into Urdu (the local language) to facilitate the operation.
The coordination cell at the Health Emergency Operation
Centre at the WHO Office in Islamabad is serving as
the reception and dissemination point of health-related
information . |
In addition to WHO experts,
PAHO has provided the support of disaster coordination experts,
structural engineers, epidemiologists, logisticians, environmental
engineers and a supply management team. WHO and the Ministry
of Health established a joint Coordination Center; WHO is
also the lead agency for the U.N. Health Cluster. Shelter,
water and sanitation are still the main priorities and challenges,
as health concerns stem from: a) the shortage of drinking
water and sanitation facilities; b) hypothermia and respiratory
tract infections due to the lack of shelter; and c) the risk
of communicable diseases.
Skin diseases such as
scabies and impetigo and acute respiratory infections (ARI)
are becoming major public health problems due to the lack
of hygiene, the cold weather and inappropriate shelter. By
the end of October, the number of trauma cases was decreasing.
Of the 1,400 patients in one city alone that sought help from
17 health facilities the first two weeks following the quake,
44% received treatment for injuries; 25% for ARI; and 17%
for acute diarrhea. Ministry of Health data indicated that
46% of the patients treated in health facilities were children
under15 years of age, while nearly 53% are under 21 years
of age. Proactive measures such as measles and tetanus immunization
continues in Mansehra and Muzaffarabad and has begun in Batagram
and Bagh.
For the latest on the health response
to the South Asia Earthquake:
http://www.whopak.org/disaster/
WHO Country Office in Pakistan.
http://www.emro.who.int/eha/pakistan.htm
WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, headquartered
in Cairo, Egypt and responsible for Pakistan.
http://www.who.int/hac
WHO headquarters, Department of Health Action in Crises (HAC).
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