UNICEF warns of multiple health threats

Drinking water, if available, was frequently contaminated with salt, heavy metals, faecal matter, pesticides and fertilisers, with levels of contamination frequently exceeding the level of safety indicated by WHO, according to the UNICEF report. Infant and maternal mortality rates were higher than average for Central asia, the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) was extremely high in places, unsanitary conditions gave rise to a high level of diarrhoeal disease and nutritional status had certainly declined - though no official statistics were available, it said. UNICEF’s response would involve strengthening primary health care capacity in Karakalpakstan, Khorezm, Kashkdaraya and Surkhnadrya; increasing water supply and sanitation activities - including desalination, well-drilling, water tankering, hygiene and excreta disposal education; and special measures for particularly vulnerable, the agency said. A real danger was that “the Uzbek population, on the brink of poverty for many years, will now be pushed into severe poverty as the result of this drought,” it added.