Survival After Disaster: An Enquiry into Major Public Health Challenges Faced by Flood Affected Areas in Alappuzha District, Kerala, India

Rajendran R; Regu K; Anusree SB; Sayana Bhaskaran K

Rajendran R Consultant, National Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
Regu K Consultant, National Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
Anusree SB Research Assistant, National Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
Sayana Bhaskaran K Medical Officer & Officer in Charge, National Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

Keywords: Flood Disaster, Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases, Rapid Disease Risk Assessment

Abstract

The study was carried out in flood-affected 21 rural and 2 urban localities of the Alappuzha district. The aim of the investigation was to assess how far Local Self Governments (LSGs), Local Health Institutions (LHIs), NGOs, Social and Residential Organisations could successfully bring safe drinking water and essential commodities to the flood-affected locality and the role of Health workers in carrying out sanitary activities such as chlorination of Wells and providing essential drugs to the needy people. The assessment of the potability of drinking water sources in the flood-affected areas using the OT test showed adequate residual chlorine was present only in two localities. However, none of the water samples examined from twelve of the flood-affected areas were with adequate residual chlorine. Acute Diarrhoeal Disease (ADD) and Leptospirosis cases were more in 2018 as compared to non-flood years. However, the numbers of dengue fever cases were less in the flood-affected localities.

How to cite this article:
Rajendran R, Regu K, Anusree SB, Sayana Bhaskaran K. Survival After Disaster: An Enquiry into Major Public Health Challenges Faced by Flood Affected Areas in Alappuzha District, Kerala, India. XIV Annual Conference of Indian Society for Malaria & Other Communicable Diseases (ISMOCD). 2023;95-101.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/0019.5138.202343

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