Abu Dhabi: In line with the directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme, UAE PAP, has so far implemented more than 70 projects at a cost of more than $6.9 million (Dh25.34 million) to bring clean drinking water to people across Pakistan’s provinces.
UAE PAP said $6.97 million was spent on the 76 water projects which include digging wells, building water desalination plants, tanks and pumps and building water supply systems for tens of thousands of households in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Waziristan where locals had to travel far from their houses to get clean water.
These include 44 projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 20 in South Waziristan, in the first phase, and 12 others in Mohmand Agency and two in North Waziristan in the second phase of the UAE PAP’s water assistance plan for Pakistan.
The UAE PAP was launched in line with the directives of Shaikh Khalifa on January 12, 2011 to help Pakistan overcome the consequences of the 2010 destructive torrential rains and floods through infrastructure rehabilitation, humanitarian aid and reconstruction in the affected areas.
UAE PAP developed a plan to achieve its goals and overcome rugged geography and harsh weather conditions in the targeted areas. The plan has four main pivots for infrastructure and community development: roads and bridges, education, health and safe water supply. It also provides for additional efforts to provide humanitarian assistance for the unprivileged, poor and homeless.
The UAE PAP showcases the success of UAE’s humanitarian and development efforts to assist the people of Pakistan.
With water pollution and shortages, in remote areas in particular, causing serious public health problems for the population, UAE PAP cites malaria and hepatitis as two major public health concerns that it addresses through safe water projects in the targeted provinces.
UAE was among the founders of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) which was launched in 2008 to extend support to Pakistan’s social and economic development. Other founding member states include Britain, France, Germany, the United States, China, the UAE, Canada, Turkey, Australia and Italy plus the United Nations and the European Union.
On August 16, 2010, the UN estimated that up to 3.5 million children were at high risk from deadly water-borne diseases in Pakistan as a result of the country’s devastating floods.
Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, “Up to 3.5 million Pakistani children are at high risk of deadly water-borne diseases, such as watery diarrhoea and dysentery. Water during the flood has been contaminated badly. There is a shortage of clean water.”
“What concerns us the most is water and health. Clean water is essential to prevent deadly water-borne diseases. Water during the flood has been contaminated badly.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) was also preparing to assist tens of thousands of people in case of cholera, although the government has not notified the UN of any confirmed cases, he added, estimating the number at risk from such diseases was six million.
In a report released in February 2007, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said 20-40 per cent of “people in hospitals [in Pakistan] are suffering from water-borne diseases — gastroenteritis, typhoid, cholera, dysentery and other serious diseases”. The report said every third Pakistani “drinks unsafe water”.
According to a report released by Unicef in 2012, pneumonia and diarrhoea are leading killers of the world’s youngest children, accounting for 29 per cent of deaths among children under age 5 worldwide, or more than 2 million lives lost each year.
