Pakistan Floods - WHO Appeal 2007

Intense storms and a major cyclone at the end of June and early July 2007 have caused severe flooding in Pakistan displacing over 300 000 people and affecting more than 2.5 million. Baluchistan and Sindh provinces in southern Pakistan have been the worst affected. With the support of CIDA's contribution the World Health Organization is supporting the Federal Ministry of Health departments and health partners in sustaining healthy livelihoods and alleviating avoidable suffering through the following activities: monitoring health threats and risks through surveillance and integration with existing routine health information systems as well as early warning surveillance and outbreak response systems assessing damage to health infrastructure and the emerging needs of the health system ensuring coordination of humanitarian relief in the health sector addressing critical threats - such as outbreaks and loss of access to health services - by ensuring appropriate and quality primary health care actions and strengthening secondary levels of medical care in the affected areas providing flexible logistical and other operational support to ensure efficient management and distribution of humanitarian supplies and addressing gaps in emergency and essential medicines in primary health care services.