CNN correspondent, Kaj Larsen is traveling to Pakistan and will be blogging about his experience. Catch all his stories here and on CNN's American Morning.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/09/09/kaj.powder.art.jpg caption="Kaj preparing ORS medicine the night before heading out to deliver medical aid to flood victims."]
Why is a CNN reporter sitting around a table in rural Pakistan filling up little baggies with white powder? Had it been another story, it would look really bad. But after almost three days of straight travel, over 8,000 miles and several questionable modes of transportation we had arrived at our destination, and these little baggies of white powder were the reason for us being here.
We met up with Team Rubicon earlier in the week on their mission to Pakistan. They had traveled to Pakistan to help with the victims of the flooding that began with the monsoon season earlier this summer. The mission of Team Rubicon is to provide emergency humanitarian relief in disaster zones. They were on the ground in Haiti within just a few days of the earthquake performing dozens of amputations (often with only Motrin) to save the lives of earthquake victims.
Unlike Haiti, where the disaster happened instantly creating a major trauma situation, Pakistan is a natural disaster happening in slow motion before the world's eyes. Watch 
It’s less a trauma situation then a long slow crisis whose medical consequences are increasing even thought the physical disaster is ebbing. Now that the floods are beginning to recede, the real medical emergency is emerging. The threat of waterborne diseases from the lack of access to clean drinking water, and the rise in people who need food, water, and medical care is pacing way beyond the ability of the Pakistani government and international aid organizations. The second wave in Pakistan is going to be worse than the first. There has been an acute increase in gastrointestinal diseases and even a few scattered cases of cholera (51 cases of cholera were documented by aid organizations in Northwest frontier province as of last week).
People, especially children and the elderly are extremely vulnerable to dying of dehydration from what the medical world calls AGE (acute gastroenteritis). The issue is that people are dehydrating so fast that they can’t keep enough fluids to sustain them. In the case of Cholera, the instant electrolyte imbalance can actually stop their heart. People can “drain out” and die within 24 to 48 hours. The medical intervention is like in so many effective things, simple and elegant. A solution mixed to the correct ratio of water and sugar, a slightly more sophisticated medical Gatorade, combats the effects of rapid dehydration and allows the body to retain fluids. Its called ORS, Oral Rehydration Solution. Technically it uses a complicated co-transport feedback system involving sodium. Practically, its believed to have saved millions of lives in different places around the world since its invention in 1979. The key is of course early intervention, and in Pakistan the challenge of getting aid and ORS to the effected population is significant.
Which brings us to the little baggies of white powder and Team Rubicon. We spent yesterday traveling from a major city in Pakistan to the outskirts of some of the effected flood plains. As we pulled in late at night, we started to unload the 200 kilos of proprietary ORS solution that we had brought with us. Late into the night with the assistance of local Pakistani doctors, the members of Team Rubicon filled up bags of ORS solution— A little white powder that has the potential to save thousands if we can get it to them. Tomorrow we head out to do just that.