Devastating conditions were triggered by heavy monsoon rains that have so far killed more than 1,500 people
Haliman said her daughters are suffering. “The skin diseases are getting worse and the fever of my daughters is also not going down. I am not getting any reasonable treatment here.”Photograph: Shah Meer Baloch/the Guardian At least 3.
4 million girls and boys remain in need of immediate, lifesaving support. Unicef Pakistan’s representative, Abdullah Fadil, warned that without a massive increase in support, many more children would die. “The situation for Pakistani families is beyond bleak, and malnourished children are battling diarrhoea and malaria, dengue fever, and many are suffering from painful skin conditions,” he said. Rawat Khan, 47, holding her daughter Iqra, whose ear became discoloured and blemished with small, pus-filled spots, said these diseases were not common before but now all the children were getting sick. Her son’s chest was swollen too. “The doctors are asking us to get tests done in Karachi … but we cannot afford that. We don’t have money. We lost our houses and savings in the floods,” she said. “We only saved our lives. We could save nothing else. We are helpless to see our children falling sick and we are unable to do anything about it. The government has failed us.” Zeeshan Chandio, who comes from an affected village in Sindh province, held his son Nadeem in his arms. “I too want help and I don’t know what’s wrong with my son. His stomach is not well and belly is swollen.” Dr Faiq Ali, who arranged a medical camp in Warah, a village in Qambar Shahdadkot, one of the most affected districts in Sindh province, said he saw more than 300 children on Sunday and all had various conditions such as malaria, diarrhoea and skin diseases. “These all are water-borne diseases. You see standing water in the flooded areas where mosquitoes are rampant and people don’t have clean drinking water and they walk in the contaminated water and drink the same water. Everything is so bleak,” Ali said.“Sadly, the government is not active in a way that it should be as we have not seen such disasters before. The National Disaster and Management Authority is also not playing an active role. We will see a bigger disaster in the shape of diseases in near future if the government stays inactive,” Ali warned. Many flood-affected victims in Larkana said they were living in the constituency of the foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and he had not visited them. They asked for his help for their children. Jaffarabad, one of the most affected towns in Balochistan, which along with Sindh are the worst-hit provinces, represents the same bleak image where children are falling sick.Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morningNewsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our