Is anything worse than usual in South Karachi right now?

Yes. Non-cholera diarrhoea is above usual: 1.3× its usual for these weeks.

Above usual · 1.3×

123 non-cholera diarrhoea cases a week, against a usual 94.

05k10kusual range2026JanAprJulOct

Read from these four weekly reports by Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad:

  • Week 36, 2026
  • Week 37, 2026
  • Week 38, 2026
  • Week 39, 2026
The 8 reports behind "usual"
  • Week 36, 2024
  • Week 37, 2024
  • Week 38, 2024
  • Week 39, 2024
  • Week 36, 2025
  • Week 37, 2025
  • Week 38, 2025
  • Week 39, 2025

The publisher's own list of its weekly reports

⅛×usual8×

How this is worked out. The last four weeks against the same four weeks of the two years before, for this district alone. Illnesses with fewer than 5 cases a week here are left out: too few to compare.

What makes the most people ill here?

Non-cholera diarrhoea: 82 of every 100 reports here this year.

  • Non-cholera diarrhoea82 in 100
  • Malaria14 in 100
  • Flu-like illness4 in 100
  • Bloody diarrhoea0 in 100
  • Tuberculosis0 in 100
  • 2 others0 in 100

3,431 reports from South Karachi so far in 2026.

Which illnesses are coming into season here?

Nothing is due to peak here in the next three months. June is the next busy season, for non-cholera diarrhoea.

2024 peak2025 peakNext ten weeks

How does South Karachi compare with the rest of Pakistan?

South Karachi is 27th of the 80 districts with enough non-cholera diarrhoea to compare, each against its own usual.

usual⅛×8×32×country 0.8×Abbottabad: 1.4×Badin: 1.8×Bajaur: 0.8×Bannu: 1.1×Barkhan: 0.8×Batagram: 1.5×Buner: 1.4×Chagai: 1.2×Charsadda: 1.4×Chitral Lower: 1.1×Chitral Upper: 1.2×D. I. Khan: 1.3×Dadu: 1.2×Lower Dir: 1.3×Upper Dir: 1.9×Ghotki: 1.3×Hangu: 2.0×Haripur: 1.3×Harnai: 1.5×Hyderabad: 1.3×Jacobabad: 0.8×Jaffarabad: 0.3×Jamshoro: 1.1×Jhal Magsi: 0.4×Kalat: 0.0×Kambar Shahdad Kot: 0.8×Central Karachi: 1.3×East Karachi: 0.9×Karachi Keamari: 1.3×Korangi Karachi: 1.2×Malir Karachi: 0.7×South Karachi: 1.3×West Karachi: 1.3×Karak: 1.5×Kashmore: 0.8×Kech: 1.0×Khairpur: 0.9×Kharan: 1.3×Khyber: 1.4×Killa Abdullah: 1.4×Kohat: 1.2×Kohistan Lower: 1.9×Kohistan Upper: 1.0×Kolai Palas Kohistan: 0.9×Lakki Marwat: 1.1×Larkana: 0.9×Lasbela: 1.2×Loralai: 1.5×Malakand: 1.7×Mansehra: 1.3×Mardan: 2.0×Mastung: 1.0×Matiari: 0.9×Mirpur Khas: 1.0×Nasirabad: 0.9×Naushahro Feroze: 0.8×North Waziristan: 1.3×Nowshera: 1.3×Nushki: 0.9×Peshawar: 1.5×Sanghar: 1.2×Shaheed Benazir Abad: 0.8×Shangla: 1.2×Shikarpur: 1.0×Sohbatpur: 0.8×South Waziristan (Lower): 1.9×South Waziristan (Upper): 0.4×Sujawal: 1.0×Sukkur: 1.0×Swabi: 1.8×Swat: 1.4×Tando Allahyar: 1.1×Tando Muhammad Khan: 0.9×Tank: 1.0×Tharparkar: 0.8×Thatta: 1.2×Tor Ghar: 1.7×Umer Kot: 1.1×Upper Kurram: 1.5×Usta Muhammad: 1.3×South Karachi

Across Pakistan as a whole, non-cholera diarrhoea is at 0.8× its usual; here it is 1.3×.

Why each district against itself. A large district always has more cases than a small one. Each dot is a district against its own usual, so size drops out.

Where can people get care in South Karachi?

Dooram has not yet found a government list of South Karachi's hospitals. Volunteers have mapped 238 hospitals and 154 clinics here so far.

Where volunteers on OpenStreetMap have mapped hospitals and clinics. Their map shows where they have been, not everything that exists.

HospitalClinic or doctor

Hospitals named on the map include:

  • National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases
  • Azam Town General Hospital
  • Bagh E Halar General Hospital
  • Clifton Kidney & General Hospital
  • Kharadar General Hospital
  • Parsi General Hospital

Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, via the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, licence ODbL 1.0.

How far is care from here?

1 in 10 people live more than an hour's walk from a hospital or clinic.

Walking time to the nearest hospital or clinic, for everyone living in South Karachi. Half of people are within 11 minutes.

  • Within an hour's walk92%
  • One to two hours5%
  • More than two hours3%

What people say

In Sindh, 26% of women say the distance to a health facility is a big problem when they need care (36% in rural areas), against 42% across Pakistan.

Sources: walking times, Weiss and others, Nature Medicine 2020 (Malaria Atlas Project), a model at walking pace from facilities mapped in 2019; where people live, WorldPop 2020; what people say, National Institute of Population Studies and ICF, Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18, table 9.17.

How well are children and mothers looked after in South Karachi?

Better than Pakistan as a whole on 4 of 5, worse on 0.

From the government's household survey of 2019-20, the newest that goes down to each district. It is not this week's news: it shows the care people in South Karachi could reach.

  • Are children fully vaccinated?

    72% of children aged 1 to 2, by their vaccination card. About the same as Pakistan as a whole.

  • Is a doctor, nurse or midwife at the birth?

    95% of recent births. Better than Pakistan as a whole.

  • Do mothers get a check-up after birth?

    47% of mothers. Better than Pakistan as a whole.

  • Do children with diarrhoea get ORS?

    97% of children under 5 who had diarrhoea. Better than Pakistan as a whole.

  • Do homes have a toilet?

    0% of homes have none. Better than Pakistan as a whole.

Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey, District Level, 2019-20, tables 4.3 B, 4.7 B, 4.11, 4.12, 7.2. The birth figure adds together doctors, nurses, midwives and lady health visitors, the report's own definition of skilled help at a birth (page 197 of the PDF).

Can we trust this week's numbers for South Karachi?

Yes, for this week. South Karachi sent figures in 42 of the last 52 weekly reports.

Weekly reports with figures from South Karachi, most recent last

A reported case means someone reached a clinic and a form was filed, so these count reports, not everyone who was ill.

Sources. Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad, weekly report. District maps: World Food Programme Spatial Data Infrastructure, published as a Common Operational Dataset by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.