2M Pakistanis affected by diseases related to widespread flooding in southern region

Sep 23 2011

Two million Pakistanis have become ill from malaria, diarrhea, skin diseases or snake bites "since monsoon rains left the southern region under several feet of water, the country's disaster authority said Thursday," Agence France-Presse reports. "More than 350 people have been killed and over eight million people have been affected this year by floods that officials say are worse in parts of Sindh province than last year," the news agency reports.

According to the WHO, a lack of access to clean drinking water has set off some disease outbreaks, AFP notes (9/22). "Officials have also expressed fears ... that the problems affecting the southern province are only getting more acute," BBC News writes. The U.N. last week launched an appeal for $365 million to help aid those in Sindh and Balochistan provinces affected by the flooding, the news agency notes (9/22).