Pakistan is a nation built around a single river, the 1,800-mile Indus. Earlier this summer, rains sent floodwaters raging down the river, killing more than 1,600 and destroying more than a million homes, along with bridges, roads, power lines, and health clinics. Managing the river’s floods and the region’s frequent droughts will require modern institutions and adequate infrastructure, according to HSPH Professor John Briscoe, a water engineer. He and colleagues at Harvard are partnering with Pakistani universities, governments there and here, nongovernmental organizations, and private entities there to prevent future disasters. Briscoe and HSPH’s Richard Cash, Jennifer Leaning, and Michael VanRooyen are quoted in the Harvard Gazette.
More information
Global Health: Harvard and Australia Join Together to Make Water a Priority (press release)
John Briscoe Offers Bold, Unorthodox Ideas for Managing Scarce Water (Harvard Public Health Review)