Highlights
- Between 17 November and 16 December 2005, 238,824 consultations including 33 deaths, were reported through the Disease Early Warning System (DEWS) from the earthquake affected districts.
- This week, 111 of the 154 reporting units (72%) reported a total of 62,522 consultations, including 2 deaths.
- The main causes for consultations this week are Acute Respiratory Infection (17%), Acute Watery Diarrhoea (6%), and injuries (5%), followed by Fever of Unexplained Origin (4%) and Bloody Diarrhoea (1%).
- A total of 4,164 acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) cases were reported with decrease in the number of reported cases compared to the previous week.
- Nine cases of clinically diagnosed meningitis reported. Of them 78% were under 5 years old.
- ARI continues to contribute significantly to the overall consultations in all reporting districts and is showing decrease compared with the previous week.
- One case of Tetanus and 1 case of AFP was reported from Mansehra district
Reporting Units
The total number of reporting units trained for DEWS in the earthquake affected areas is increased to be 154. Of these, 111 (72%) have sent their surveillance data on time during the epidemiological week 50 (10-16 December 2005). The reporting timeliness of the DEWS system has decreased by 19% compared with the previous week (Epidemiological week 49). Forms are not available yet from Shangla district. WHO is planning to expand the system to cover most of the earthquake affected areas (Table 1).
Table 1. Number of reporting units by district, earthquake affected areas, Pakistan, 10 - 16 December 2005.
Area
|
Population
|
Trained sites
|
Reported Sites/ Weeks
| ||
Week 48
|
Week 49
|
Week 50
| |||
Muzaffarabad |
894,364
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
15
|
Bagh |
452,532
|
18
|
17
|
21
|
18
|
Poonch |
633,712
|
50
|
21
|
28
|
21
|
Balakot |
253,390
|
16
|
10
|
13
|
8
|
Mansehra |
1,107,642
|
46
|
12
|
39
|
42
|
Battagram |
319,973
|
6
|
5
|
9
|
7
|
Shangla |
272,283
| ||||
Total |
3,933,896
|
154
|
84 (56%)
|
130 (84%)
|
111(72%)
|
The Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report (WMMR) is published by the Ministry of Health of Pakistan (MOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The WMMR is built on surveillance data that health service providers and NGOs transmit on a weekly basis from health facilities and hospitals in those areas affected by the earthquake that struck Pakistan on 8 October 2005. The WMMR objective is to monitor the trend of heath conditions over a period of time and provide vital information to all health partners. The WMMR is only a snapshot of the health conditions in those facilities where events are registered and data collected and does not necessarily reflect the situation from other health facilities. The WMMR is a tool that has been developed for emergencies and previously used in other areas such as the Darfur Crisis.
The WMMR is published by the World Health Organization (WHO),
Health Emergency Operation Centre, House # 6, Street #20, F-7/2, Islamabad, Pakistan For More Information, please contact:
Dr. Hammam El Sakka, Senior Medical Epidemiologist, WHO Pakistan Office: elsakkah@whopak.org or Dr. Birjees Mazher Kazi, Chief, Public Health Division, NIH MOH, Pakistan; kazis@isb.paknet.com.pk or Webpage: http://www.whopak.org/disaster
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