PABBI, Pakistan — Shahid Khan, 5, struggled to remain conscious in his hospital bed as diarrhea threatened to kill him. His father watched helplessly, stricken at the thought of losing his son — one of the only things the floods had not already taken.
The young boy is one of millions of children who survived the floods that ravaged Pakistan over the last month but are now vulnerable to a second wave of death caused by waterborne disease, according to the United Nations.
Khan’s father, Ikramullah, fled Pabbi just before floods devastated the northwestern town about a month ago, abandoning his two-room house and all his possessions to save his wife and four children.
“I saved my kids. That was everything for me,” said Ikramullah, whose 6-year-old son, Waqar, has also battled severe diarrhea in recent days. “Now I see I’m losing them. We’re devastated.”
Ten other children lay in beds near Khan at the diarrhea treatment center run by the World Health Organization. Two were in critical condition. The center opened about a week ago and has treated more than 500 patients, mostly children.
Access to clean water has always been a problem in Pakistan, but the floods have made the situation worse by breaking open sewer lines, filling wells with dirty water and displacing millions of people.
The Pakistani government and international aid groups have worked to get clean water to millions of people affected by the floods and treat those suffering from waterborne diseases. But they have been overwhelmed.
About 3.5 million children are at imminent risk of waterborne disease and 72,000 are at high risk of death, according to the United Nations.
