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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Flood victims at risk of malaria and diarrhoea


With 1,500 deaths already confirmed by devastating floods across the country, more lives at risk as stagnant water and lack of safe drinking water pose a potential risk of spreading skin diseases, diarrhoea-and-cholera-related diseases, as well as epidemics like measles among the children, a Ministry of Health spokesman said while updating on the healthcare situation created by the floods. To support the provincial health departments in coping with the challenge, medical hubs are being created by the federal Health Ministry in various points in southern Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, including Nowshera, Sukkur and Multan.  A Health Ministry Relief Office is being set up in Multan at the EDO Health Office, the spokesman said. To deal with the challenge in terms of medical emergency in South Punjab, a health cluster has been established there by Health Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin and the World Health Organisation chief in Pakistan, Dr Sabbatenelli, who visited southern Punjab to supervise the flood relief effort. The health cluster, including the federal Health Ministry and all development partners, would be working closely with the Punjab Health Department and local health authorities to strengthen healthcare response in southern Punjab that has been badly hit by the unprecedented floods in the country. The federal health minister on Thursday handed over six mobile medical teams consisting, fully equipped with necessary supplies, to the Punjab Health authorities in Multan. The teams have been deployed at Muzzafargarh, Rajanpur and Layyah, the spokesman said. The mobile teams will be re-stocked and refuelled from a base set up in Multan by the federal Health Ministry and the WHO. Meanwhile, assistance from the world keeps pouring in to mitigate the sufferings of the affected people. On Thursday, another planeload of medical supplies and relief items arrived from Saudi Arabia.

Obama Says Right to Build Mosque Isn’t an Endorsement

President Barack Obama said his support for the right of a Muslim group to build an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site isn’t necessarily an endorsement of the project. “I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there,” Obama said yesterday in Panama City, Florida, during a trip with his family to the Gulf of Mexico. “I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. That is what our country is about.” Obama addressed the controversy over the center for the first time on Aug. 13 during an annual White House iftar dinner, marking the breaking of the daily fast in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. His remarks drew criticism from some Republicans and opponents of the plan to build the center on Park Place, two blocks from the target of the 2001 attacks. “As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,” Obama said at the dinner. “That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.”

Shoe-throwing has become a 'fashion'

Congress on Sunday strongly condemned the hurling of a shoe at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during the Independence Day function in Srinagar and said "divisive forces" in the Valley could be behind it. The party, which felt throwing footwear has become a "fashion" nowadays, said the incident should be probed and the guilty must be punished. Suspended policeman Abdul Ahad Jan hurled a shoe towards the dais where Abdullah was taking salute after unfurling the tricolour at the Independence Day function in Srinagar.

UN chief tours flood-hit Pakistan


Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has arrived in flood-ravaged Pakistan to discuss relief efforts for the millions of people affected by the worst floods in the country's history. Ban was expected to "see for himself the flood-affected areas [and] demonstrate the support of the UN and the international community to the government and people of Pakistan," Ishrat Rizvi, a UN spokeswoman, told AFP news agency. "I'm here also to urge the world community to speed up their assistance to the Pakistani people," Ban said on Sunday. "We will try to mobilise all necessary assistance and remember that the whole world is behind the people of Pakistan in this time of trial," he said. Ban's visit comes a day after the UN confirmed the country's first case of cholera in Mingora, in the northwestern district of Swat. Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs, said at least 36,000 people were reportedly suffering from acute watery diarrhoea.

Who will help Pakistan?

When US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a public appeal for money to help the 14 million Pakistanis affected by record flooding, she received a miserly $ 12,000. compare this to the Haiti earthquake. A flash appeal saw the United Nations alone reach its $ 577 million target in a month. The UN's ReliefWeb estimates it has gotten 18 per cent of what it wants for Pakistan. While governments have slowly been ponying up funds, the US leading the way with some $ 80 million, individual donations have been almost nonexistent. Such funds constituted the bulk of Haiti's relief – over $ 1.2 billion. In comparison, Pakistan has got barely $ 10 million from individuals. Recession-affected governments have also been reluctant. But even Saudi Arabia, a Pakistani ally, has given nothing though it donated $ 50 million to Haiti. Islamabad has tried to explain this, even blaming UK Prime Minister David Cameron for his criticism of Pakistan's stance on terrorism.