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A series of cloudbursts and flash floods hit Leh city in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir on August 6, 2010, killing and injuring hundreds of people and causing extensive damage to public and private property, civil hospital, airport, drinking water supply works and vital communication and telecommunication links. Nearly 25,000 people were affected by the flash floods.

A massive rescue and relief operation was launched with over 6,000 personnel of Army, Air Force, Border Roads Organization, National Disaster Response Force and Indo Tibetan Border Police assisting the civil administration in saving lives and providing succor to the affected. Wading through knee-deep slush, these personnel worked day and night to rescue people and extricate bodies from under the debris. They helped clear roads and airport and reach ready-to-eat food/ration, drinking water, medicines, blankets and pre-fabricated shelters to the affected people. The Indian Air Force airlifted relief materials, rescue workers, medicines and emergency kits to Leh. The road construction wing of the army restored bridges washed away by the flash floods.

WHO supported the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, in augmenting medical relief supplies to Leh. WHO worked closely with the Emergency Medical Relief Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and mobilized one Interagency Emergency Health Kit (IEHK) - 2006 which was transported by a special sortie of the Indian Air Force to Leh on 8^th August.

To quickly re-establish critical laboratory services in the damaged district hospital at Leh, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare decided to shift the Portable Laboratory Kit (PLK 06) from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi. WHO laboratory surveillance specialist worked with the NCDC team to disassemble and pack the PLK 06 which was transported to Leh by a special sortie of the Indian Air Force on 9^th August Additional equipment and supplies were added to PLK 06 to establish blood banking and transfusion services. In addition to the medical teams of the state, army and central para-military forces, two central teams with emergency surgical/medical consumables were deployed in Leh in a phased manner. The second team returned recently after the situation stabilized. Two Public health Specialists from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare continue to assist the state health officials in strengthening public health interventions in the affected areas. Medical consumables are being replenished regularly by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

WHO is in touch with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and is closely monitoring the situation.

Global Road Traffic Injury Prevention Project

India is among ten countries where WHO, along with consortium partners, is implementing the Global Road Traffic Injury Prevention Project (GRIPP /RS 10) to reduce death and disability through road traffic injury prevention projects. At a two-day planning meeting in New Delhi on 27 – 28 April, officials from Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh governments, consortium partners - Global Road Safety Partnership, Johns Hopkins University, World Resource Institute for Sustainable Transport (EMBARQ) and the World Bank – along with WHO, discussed implementation of the project. More >..

World Health Day 2010: Urbanization and Health

The World Health Day theme this year focuses on Urbanization and Health – addressing health issues of the rapidly increasing urban population. Over half of the world’s population lives in cities. By 2050, seven out of every 10 people will be city dwellers. India is a part of this global trend. Nearly 28 percent of India’s population lives in cities and this is expected to increase to 41 percent by the year 2020. The rapid increase in urban population worldwide is among the important global health issues of the 21^st century.