As devastating monsoon rains submerge vast swathes of Pakistan, health experts warn of an impending cholera risks surge that could overwhelm an already strained healthcare system.
Islamabad, Pakistan – The Pakistan floods 2025, triggered by relentless monsoon downpours since late June, have claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced millions across the country, raising acute cholera risks pose to vulnerable communities amid contaminated water supplies and damaged sanitation infrastructure.
In a region where climate-vulnerable nations like Pakistan bear the brunt of extreme weather, the Pakistan floods 2025 underscore South Asia’s growing susceptibility to compounded disasters, where waterborne diseases threaten to exacerbate humanitarian crises and strain cross-border aid efforts.
Devastation from Pakistan Floods 2025
The Pakistan floods 2025 have unfolded across multiple provinces, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan bearing the heaviest toll. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), cumulative data as of 19 September, 2025, records 1,006 deaths, including 504 in KP alone. Injuries stand at 1,063, while 12,569 houses have been damaged – 4,128 fully and 8,441 partially. Livestock losses total 6,509 head, crippling rural livelihoods dependent on agriculture.
The United Nations estimates that more than 6 million people have been affected nationwide since late June, with over 2 million displaced into makeshift camps where overcrowding fosters disease transmission. NDMA reports 152,252 individuals currently sheltered in relief camps, primarily in Punjab (118,074) and KP (25,927).
Heavy rains, intensified by climate change, have led to riverine flooding and landslides, destroying crops and infrastructure. Pakistan, ranked among the top 10 most climate-vulnerable countries despite contributing less than 1 per cent of global emissions, faces recurring threats from melting glaciers – over 13,000 in the northern regions – that amplify flood volumes.
Government agencies, including NDMA, have coordinated evacuations and relief distribution, but the scale of the Pakistan floods has overwhelmed resources. In May 2025, NDMA convened a National Disaster Management Coordination Forum to bolster monsoon preparedness, focusing on federal-provincial collaboration and addressing operational gaps.
Cholera risks Pakistan floods amplify
The cholera risks Pakistan floods present are escalating as floodwaters contaminate drinking sources and sanitation systems collapse. Health experts highlight that unhygienic conditions in displacement camps – lacking proper toilets and handwashing facilities – enable rapid spread of waterborne pathogens like cholera, a bacterial infection causing severe diarrhoea and potentially fatal dehydration if untreated.
Dr Shobha Luxmi, an infectious disease specialist, emphasised: “Access to clean water, hygiene and nutritional support must be prioritised in relief efforts.” The British Red Cross noted: “There’s a lack of proper toilets for people living in shelters… This means that diseases like dysentery and cholera can spread very rapidly in overcrowded places.”
Pakistan reported an annual average of more than 21,000 suspected cholera cases and 250 confirmed ones between January 2023 and July 2025, even before this year’s deluge. The 2022 floods alone triggered over 370,000 suspected cases, underscoring the pattern. Current fears centre on a similar spike, with the United Nations warning of rising waterborne diseases like malaria and dengue, and potential cholera outbreaks in the coming weeks.
In response, Pakistan’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the National Cholera Control Plan 2025–2028 on 29 July, 2025, aiming for a 90 per cent mortality reduction by 2030. Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal stated: “Health care starts with prevention in communities to avoid water-borne diseases like cholera.” WHO Representative Dr Dapeng Luo added that climate change heightens flood-related cholera threats to vulnerable groups lacking safe water and sanitation.
The plan’s eight pillars include surveillance, vaccination, water and sanitation improvements, and community engagement. WHO has supported pre-flood cholera vaccinations and is scaling up disease monitoring, though cholera risks Pakistan floods entail remain high without swift WASH interventions. Amnesty International’s Laura Mills warned: “Pakistan’s healthcare system is woefully underfunded and overstretched… The climate emergency creates an extra strain that is unbearable.”
Background
The Pakistan floods 2025 echo the 2022 catastrophe, which affected 33 million, killed over 1,700 and inflicted $30 billion in damages and losses. Last year, floods and a heatwave claimed nearly 600 lives. These events highlight Pakistan’s vulnerability to erratic monsoons, driven by rising temperatures and glacier melt, with children and the elderly at disproportionate risk.
What’s Next
As relief efforts intensify, sustained international aid and investment in resilient infrastructure will be crucial to mitigate future Pakistan floods 2025-like crises and the attendant cholera risks Pakistan floods bring, ensuring long-term public health security in the region.
Published in SouthAsianDesk, September 23rd, 2025
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