HYDERABAD-Aug25: Flood affected women coming out from their inundated rain water house at Muslim Colony area, as incessant rains in Hyderabad since the past week have made lives miserable in the city, especially for people living in the low-lying areas. The rains and consequent floods have wreaked havoc in several colonies, with water inundating homes up to several feet and washing away valuables. ONLINE PHOTO by Nadeem Khawar
The first priority of any state is to protect its citizens, from foreign and domestic threats. Basic healthcare is one of the provisions that every state must deliver to its citizens. Unfortunately, 77 years after independence, the average Pakistani cannot count upon the state to deliver basic healthcare.
Every year, as the monsoon season hits the country, water-born diseases appear and one of them is the mosquito-borne chikungunya. “Chikungunya is commonly transmitted by infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which primarily bite in the day. Symptoms such as joint pain and fever manifest in about two days and can last up to 12 days. While it is rarely fatal, the debilitating joint pain affects the quality of life, especially for the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.”
As an editorial in Dawn pointed out, Pakistan lacks the chikungunya vaccine and so “our sole defence against the virus is controlling mosquito populations. Stagnant water following rains has provided these mosquitoes the perfect breeding grounds. The government must act swiftly to ensure drainage of water, proper garbage collection and spraying of insecticides in high-risk areas.”
According to the Editorial, Pakistan can also learn from other countries in the Global South, like Brazil where “the introduction of genetically modified male mosquitoes into the local populations ensures that the female offspring do not survive.”
