For this year’s Global Health Case Competition sponsored by the Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH), student teams were tasked with finding innovative solutions to assist with flood recovery and resilience in Pakistan.
Devasting flooding in Pakistan in 2022 has resulted in a “humanitarian disaster of epic proportions,” according to the country’s Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman. In the southern province of Sindh, it is estimated a half million people remain displaced due to unsafe drinking water, heightening the incidence of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dengue, and malaria. Children are especially vulnerable.
In this year’s contest, the winning team presented an innovative plan to address the impact of flooding in the city of Thatta in Sindh province by mobilizing women in the community to promote better sanitation and hygiene. Key components of the plan — entitled “Mobilizing Women for SAHAT (Sanitation and Hygiene Across Thatta)” — included increasing the number of lady health visitors (the local community health care workforce), distributing better water purification resources through the Drinkable Book, and using “WaSH Wagons” to deliver services and medical supplies throughout the region.