Children, women prone to diseases in Pakistan's stagnant flood water

FILE PHOTO: Buffaloes pass in front of a gas station amid flood water on the Indus highway, following rains and floods during the monsoon season in Sehwan, Pakistan September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Children and women are becoming more vulnerable as tens of thousands of people suffer from infectious and water-borne diseases in flood-hit Pakistan and the death toll from the inundation surpassed 1,500, according to government data and UNICEF on Friday.

As flood waters begin to recede, which officials say may take two to six months, the regions have become infested with diseases including malaria, dengue fever, diarrhoea and skin problems, the southern Sindh provincial government said in a report on Friday.