Caracas: A regional health agency on Thursday issued a warning regarding the elevated risk of disease outbreaks across north-central Venezuela as search-and-rescue efforts wind down following the catastrophic magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck on June 24. Public health experts are shifting their primary focus toward mitigating severe epidemiological threats in a region where an estimated 712,223 people live in municipalities exposed to the highest seismic intensity.
According to Anadolu Agency, Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), emphasized during a press conference via video link that ensuring access to clean drinking water, proper sanitation, and routine vaccination is the top priority for preventing secondary disease outbreaks. The threat is compounded by the fact that routine vaccination coverage across Venezuela had fallen to low levels before the disaster.
In addition to waterborne and gastrointestinal risks stemming from compromised sanitation, health experts warned of a surge in respiratory illnesses. Crowded conditions in temporary shelters, combined with cold-chain disruptions, create an ideal condition for the rapid spread of respiratory diseases such as influenza and other airborne viral infections among vulnerable displaced populations.
While public health monitoring has ruled out active cholera outbreaks-noting that cases in the region remain contained to Haiti-unclean water and compromised sanitation systems still pose a danger for waterborne and gastrointestinal infections among displaced populations.
The "seismic doublet" dealt a crushing blow to medical infrastructure that was already operating at half capacity due to long-standing economic challenges. The resulting emergency has placed the health system under extreme pressure, reducing hospitals' capacity to provide timely care. Approximately half of medical professionals in the hardest-hit areas were personally impacted, leaving them injured, displaced, or unable to work. Authorities have had to mobilize medical personnel from unaffected regions to fill the operational void.
Three hospitals suffered complete structural failures and remain totally unusable; 24 sustained severe functional damage requiring urgent structural repairs, and 20 reported superficial damage while continuing to operate under severe material constraints. For doctors on the ground, chronic shortages of basic supplies, clean running water, and reliable electricity have made delivering life-saving care very difficult.
The disaster response is further complicated by a growing deficit in international financial support and personnel. Specialized medical response teams from 20 countries, which deployed immediately after the earthquakes, have begun withdrawing as their initial rescue cycles conclude. PAHO warned that without immediate disbursement of the remaining $15 million in requested emergency aid-having raised only $9 million of its $24 million appeal-efforts to repair damaged hospitals and maintain basic sanitation in displaced person camps could stall, leaving millions exposed to a growing public health emergency.