Making a real difference

In the front line against deadly disease

When severe flooding hit Pakistan last summer, the British Red Cross had a new weapon to use against the spread of disease – our specialist health and sanitation emergency response team.
The team is one of nine different types of Emergency Response Units (ERUs) which the Red Cross keeps ready to go into action at any time, anywhere in the world. Each ERU has its own special area of expertise – and the health and sanitation team’s mission is to save lives by stopping the spread of disease.
A total of 16 people have been trained for the unit, from which a four-person team is always on call to serve in a disaster zone for up to four weeks. The team sent to Pakistan – the first health and sanitation team ever deployed – was led by Vendela Fortune, with sanitation engineer Phil Weatherill, public health expert Jean Gilardi and Ruth Aggiss providing team support.
Clean water for all
Vendela and her team flew to one of the worst-hit areas, in Sindh province, where they worked in close co-operation with the Pakistani Red Crescent.
She says: “Our job was to assess public health needs, focusing on sanitation. Tens of thousands of people had been left with nothing but filthy floodwater to drink. Many latrines had been destroyed, so people had to go in the open. This attracted flies, which in turn spread diseases.
“Our first priority was to restore clean water supplies and rebuild the latrines. We also helped to organise a programme of public education to encourage people to improve sanitation and hygiene.”
At the time of writing, a second health and sanitation team is in China helping to prevent the spread of disease and promote vital messages of hygiene to survivors of the May earthquake.
A sense of achievement
A vital part of the team’s work is to train local people, so that they can continue to improve conditions in the area after the British Red Cross team has gone home.
Bashir, 27, is a skilled plumber and electrician from north-west Pakistan. When the floods came, he was one of a number of people from his district who volunteered to work for the Red Crescent relief effort. From July to September he worked with Phil Weatherill as part of the health and sanitation team.
Bashir told us later: “The training that Phil gave me in mass sanitation was excellent. It was in-depth and we put everything into practice in the field.” He added: “I enjoyed working and training with the team. Knowing that we had helped people gave me a real sense of achievement.”


How you can help too
In emergency response work, preparation is everything. Your donation can help the British Red Cross to be ready for the next emergency. For example:

£18
could help provide enough purification tablets to give clean water, free from life-threatening diseases, to almost 200 people a day.
http://www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp?id=77029

£50
could provide enough plastic sheeting to give five families temporary shelter after losing their homes in an earthquake or flood.
http://www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp?id=77029

£150
could buy 12 family kits – containing emergency shelter, bedding, mosquito nets and cooking utensils – for families made homeless by a natural disaster.
http://www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp?id=77029

£500
could buy a hand-operated water pump to provide safe water for an entire village.
http://www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp?id=77029
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