KUALA LUMPUR – With the support of the Malaysian government, in particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MERCY Malaysia is set to begin projects in Sindh, Pakistan, to alleviate the province’s dire situation after it was hit by severe flooding which began in August last year.

Heavy monsoon rain on Sindh and the northern parts of Punjab had affected the livelihood of 9.27 million people which relies heavily on agricultural produce.

“MERCY Malaysia is genuinely heartened by the support of the Malaysian government which contributed USD1 million to the cause. With such a generous contribution from the government, MERCY Malaysia is confident that we would be able to respond to the disaster with more impetus and to greater effect” said MERCY Malaysia President, Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus.

 “On Pakistan, our assessment team found that there are still health related concerns six months after the flooding. The hygiene and sanitation situation is worrying. The people of Sindh are having difficulty accessing health facilities and there are also infrastructural damage to hospitals and health centres,” he added.

On MERCY Malaysia’s plans, Dr Faizal mentioned, “With long term focus on reducing the mortality and morbidity rate of the affected community, we are seeking to address the basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) needs by installing latrines, hand-pumps and water filtration systems. Hopefully our efforts would allow the people of Sindh to live in a healthier environment.”

MERCY Malaysia also aims to increase communal access to primary health services especially in the remote areas through mobile and static clinics as well as to rehabilitate the infrastructure and revitalise the capacity of the local health providers.

MERCY Malaysia Senior Programme Officer, Mohammad Said Alhudzari was deployed on 21 February 2012 to oversee the execution of the projects in its initial stages.

Concerned individuals and organisations can donate to the MERCY Malaysia Fund through the following bank accounts:

MAYBANK (account name: MERCY HUMANITARIAN FUND, account number: 5621-7950-4126, ABA Swift Code: MBBEMYKLA), or

CIMB Bank (account name: MERCY Malaysia, account number: 1424-000-6561053, ABA Swift Code: CIBBMYKL).

Donations via cheque are payable to MERCY MALAYSIA

To donate online, please visit www.mercy.org.my

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About MERCY Malaysia

MERCY Malaysia is a non-profit organisation focusing on providing medical relief, sustainable health related development and risk reduction activities for vulnerable communities in both crisis and noncrisis situations. MERCY Malaysia recognises the value of working with partners and volunteers as well as providing opportunities for individuals to serve with professionalism. We uphold the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief and hold ourselves accountable to our donors and beneficiaries. As a non-profit organisation, MERCY Malaysia relies solely on funding and donations from organisations and generous individuals to continue our services to provide humanitarian assistance to our beneficiaries.