Direct Relief is airlifting $335,000 in medical material aid to Pakistan to help people affected by the ongoing extensive flooding there. Marie Stopes Society in Pakistan will receive the materials, which it will use to equip its medical outreach camps in 35 affected districts.

With an estimated 20 million people in Pakistan affected by record flooding, waterborne diseases among the displaced are a significant health concern. Direct Relief’s in-country partners are confirming cases of cholera, with malaria also posing a “real threat” in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where standing and contaminated water is widespread.

American Refugee Committee (ARC), which has been deploying mobile medical teams to treat the displaced since the start of the flooding, reports that it has seen confirmed cases of cholera, with skin, eye, and respiratory infections on the rise. Direct Relief is sending an emergency module of medical supplies from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies to support ARC’s relief efforts.

Dr. Haamid Jaffer, director of Murshid Hospital and Healthcare Centers in Balochistan, says the hospital is working to support the needs of a refugee camp that is home to 100,000 people and is located a few miles from the hospital. The Murshid Hospital is focusing particularly on maternal and child health needs and admitting severe cases to the hospital.

Direct Relief is sourcing appropriate aid for partners in Pakistan, including drawing on its standing inventory to meet medical needs of the affected. Abbott Labs has donated critically needed oral rehydration solutions and medicines from its in-country facilities to expedite delivery. Bristol-Myers Squibb has released $19,000 in emergency relief funds in support of the emergency response as well.