PESHAWAR, July 31: The World Health Organisation has issued guidelines to health department to prevent spread of diarrhoea among people in the seven affected districts of the province.

“The cases of diarrhoea are being reported from some districts but situation is under control. The people in the affected areas should be educated to use boiled water to stay safe from acute watery diarrhoea,” said officials of World Health Organisation. Treatment and awareness should go hand in hand to avoid any emergency situation, they added.

They attributed emergence of diarrhoea to hot season and use of contaminated water. They said that care-givers had been issued guidelines regarding management of cases.

The officials said that WHO had already provided training to health professionals regarding taking samples from the patients and their management.

Officials at directorate of health said that 700 cases of acute watery diarrhoea were reported in Abbottabad, 500 in Mansehra, 437 in Dera Ismail Khan, 216 in Haripur, 54 in Chitral, 53 in Nowshera and 33 in Karak.

“Cases have also been reported in parts of Mardan district where Diarrhoea Treatment Centre has been established,” they said.

They said that seven DTCs were set up in the affected districts where trained health workers provided treatment to patients round-the-clock. Surveillance officers were appointed there to closely monitor the situation and prevent spread of disease, they said.

The world health agency has provided essential medicines and training to doctors and health workers visiting the designated health facilities and sending reports to directorate of health on daily basis.

The health officials in the affected districts have been asked to record trend of the disease among patients and strictly follow the WHO's disease early warning system (DEWS) to contain its spread.—Bureau Report