Listen to head of mission Benoit De Gryse talk to BBC Radio 4 about the challenges to MSF's work in Pakistan
As part of MSF’s efforts in flood-hit Pakistan, a total of 1,000 hygiene kits containing items such as aqua tablets, jerry cans, cooking sets and tarpaulins have been distributed in Baluchistan province. Many more will be distributed in the coming days. We are continuing our emergency medical work, providing support to a hospital in Nowshera and supporting health centres in Peshawar. We are also providing safe water to the Ministry of Health hospital and to communities in Swat through fixed water points and water trucking.
“The devastation by the floods is enormous, and some towns have been completely washed away. What used to be small streams are now highways of fast-flowing water that are destroying everything in their way” said Josep Prior Tio, field coordinator for MSF in Swat. “Many people remain trapped. Some have taken refuge at the top of hills, others are stuck on islands that have been formed as a result of the floods.”
The challenge we face is providing enough clean water and hygiene kits to prevent the spread of acute respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases and skin infections. Mobile healthcare clinics that will also provide hygiene kits to harder-to-reach people are currently being set up.
Medical teams are closely monitoring the situation concerning possible cholera outbreaks and are on standby at treatment centres in Dir, Charsadda, and Swat, where there has already been one confirmed case.
While assessments continue in many of the affected areas, our teams continue looking for ways to get to as yet inaccessible areas in North Swat.
Flood victims line-up to collect relief supplies from the Army in Nowshera, located in Pakistan's northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, 2nd August, 2010. REUTERS/Adrees Latif, courtesy of www.alertnet.org.
Click here to see a picture gallery from the areas affected by flooding in Pakistan.