International Medical Corps’ local teams are responding to a measles outbreak in Dadu District in Sindh, Pakistan where 20 cases and 10 related deaths are being reported.  In response to requests by the World Health Organization (WHO) and local health authorities for emergency medical care, International Medical Corps mobilized medical teams with support from the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). Four mobile teams reached Sindh by boat to deliver health services to measles-affected camps established following the floods for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, which are common in temporary tent camps, can be contributing factors for the rapid spread of measles. In addition, many children in IDP camps are malnourished, making them more prone to infections including measles. One of the first organizations to respond to the mid-November outbreak, International Medical Corps is transported daily by boat into villages cut-off by stagnant floodwaters. Having identified 29 cases of measles to date, our mobile medical teams are currently providing services in KAD tent city, IRC tent city, Polytechnic College, Ustad Bukhari Degree College and Karampur Village.
Following the devastating floods earlier this year International Medical Corps immediately deployed local medical teams to reach the hardest hit areas in Pakistan. Currently 95 International Medical Corps mobile and static medical teams are providing healthcare services in 18 flood-affected districts in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. In Dadu District in Sindh, International Medical Corps’ teams provide primary healthcare services to flood affected people living in villages where vital land routes and critical health facilities have been destroyed.