Wake-Up Call to Public Health Crisis: Floods driving Looming Outbreaks in Pakistan

Floods in Pakistan are among the most recent recurring national disasters since the last three decades that have exposed several times the fragility of infrastructures, leading to the silent emergency of disease outbreaks beyond repair. The 2010, 2022, and 2025-based floods clearly depicted that Pakistan is in constant war with not only climate change but also with the devastating epidemics of vector-borne diseases 1. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2022 reported more than 33 million people as direct victims of floods, more than 1,400 damaged health facilities, along with 8 million displaced people, including children and women 2. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported over 3.4 million children with urgent need of medical and nutritional assistance over this period of time 3. Thousands of people (displaced)with the symptoms of diarrheal diseases, malaria, and dengue, followed by the monsoon rains, flooded Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4. Emphasizing waterborne diseases, a hub of Pathogens spreading among displaced populations by dint of poor sewage systems and scarcity of clean drinking water. The most typical culprits are cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E, and acute watery diarrhea 5. During the floods in 2022, the Sindh province recorded almost 90,000 cases of diarrhea in one day, which is an absolute question mark over the sanitation infrastructure of Pakistan 6. Stagnant water creates breeding areas of mosquitoes, resulting in dengue, malaria, and chikungunya spikes. In 2022, the cases of dengue and malaria were seen as reportedly increased in Sindh and Punjab within weeks of the monsoon floods 7. Children bearing malnourishment (under-five populations) are particularly vulnerable to increased mortality rates, and over 600,000 pregnant women were reported to require emergency maternal care 8,9.