Two million sick from Pakistan floods

Two million Pakistanis have fallen ill from diseases because monsoon rains left the southern region under several feet of water, the country's disaster authority said Thursday additional than 350 people have been killed and over eight million people have been precious this year by floods that official say are worse in parts of Sindh province than last year, when the country saw its worst ever disaster.

Malaria, diarrhoea, skin disease and snake bites were between the health problems facing two million public across 23 Sindh districts, said Irshad Bhatti, spokesman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

"In some areas, diseases also spread out because of dead animals but there is no main break-out of any epidemic," Bhatti added, calling for the donation of mosquito nets and medicine to help the aid effort the World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is a anxious shortage of clean drinking water in the south which has also trigger outbreak of acute diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases.

Double whammy: After flood fury, diseases ravage Fazilka villages

More than three weeks after flood water from river Sutlej entered Fazilka villages depiction many homeless and destroying position crops in thousands of acres, the locals are battling an onslaught of diseases the stagnant water in several areas joint with the rotting foliage has become an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Combined with the lack of accessibility of potable water, the villagers, some of them still waiting out the flood sitting on the rooftops of their houses, are declining prey to malaria, pneumonia, viral fever and skin related ailments even the livestock contain started contracting diseases like haemorrhagic septicaemia, worms in the stomach and other disorders. 

The water has started receding now, but most of the move toward roads are still under water hampering the relief work the doctors, administrative officers and additional government officials are using tractors and at times even the JCB machines to reach the flooded villages to set up medical camps the gravity of the situation might be gauged from the fact that on an average 600 patients visit the medical camps set up at Mahtam Nagar, Gatti number 1 and additional areas everyday an equal number of cattle heads are as well being treated everyday. 

Chance to eliminate Malaria

A data compilation published in The Lancet medical journal reveals that Malaria, the disease that cause the deaths of just about 1.2 million people around the globe every year, could be erased in the next 10 to 15 years. Scientists have examine the Malaria causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum over five years and found out that it is expected to vanish within the next decade and a half, as extended as transmission rates can significantly be reduced. If 90% of transmission cases would reduce, the organism would possibly become extinct. According to the current research findings, it is most probable for developed countries such as Brazil to get rid of Malaria as sanitary and governmental conditions allow confine the disease.

University of Florida in Gainesville member and co author of the study, Dr Andrew Tatem, explains: "In general, removal from countries in the Americas is most feasible using current tools, and least possible for most sub-Saharan countries." Malaria gets mostly transmit by mosquitoes and 90% of Malaria deaths occur on the African continent. That is why it is least probable for countries like Angola, Chad or Somalia to fight the disease, as scarcity rates and unstable governing previously represent tough challenges for its population.

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Malaria PSA uses humor to extend disease awareness

A new public service announcement irreverently suggest one way to resolve the malaria problem in Africa: take on a cadre of sexy mosquitoes called La Femme Mosquita to seduce and kill their disease carrying counterparts. Its one example of the humor the nonprofit group Malaria No More hopes will extend awareness in eliminating the deadly disease. B.J. Novak, star of the NBC sitcom "The Office," similar to the "laugh with us and not at us" approach. He and other celebrity including Ed Helms, Elizabeth Banks, John Mayer, and Orlando Bloom are lending their carry to the grouping through a series of TV spots and viral videos.

Novak said that public service announcements in history have gotten small respect, despite the significance of their causes, making them ripe for ridicule. The ubiquitous "This is your brain on drugs" ad that show an egg frying was ridicule in "Nightmare on Elm Street" with Johnny Depp getting whacked in the head with boiling pan by Freddy Krueger. One of the funniest spots in the Malaria No More movement stars Helms as a big-game hunter. In the three minute video, the actors suggest option techniques to kill malaria borne mosquitoes, such as biting back.

Helms traveled to Senegal to watch the problem and produce the spot. He called it "an incredible adventure" that he hopes will lift awareness. He feels the campaign can teach a broad audience, and he also hopes to "piss off a few mosquitoes in the progression." Malaria was eliminate in the United States in the early 1950s, but still looms in the third world. In Africa, 2,000 children die each day from malaria, according to Malaria No More, which breaks down to a death each 45 seconds. Other tools to fight malaria include mosquito nets, insecticide and efficient medicine. Banks sees those measures as the most efficient but finds Helms' approach works, too.

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