We learned a lot during the recent influenza epidemics and before that from Hurricane Mitch, floods and landslides. Alternative water sources include open canals, which may harbour chemical contamination (river salt, pesticides and fertilisers) and pathogenic microbes from uncontrolled sewage disposal. In insecure areas we have to talk to everyone, each party regardless of their political or ideological position is a stakeholder and we have to get everyone aligned around one central theme-children and their wellbeing. More than 50,000 people have received treatment - many of them for gastro-intestinal ailments - in Pakistan Red Crescent health-care units in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the start of August. The 12 illnesses covered are: malignant tumors (including leukemia); organ and stem cell transplant; acute kidney failure; aplastic anemia; benign brain tumors; acute hepatitis; sequelae of cerebritis or meningitis; infantile paralysis; serious juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; serious Kawasaki disease; Myasthenia Gravis; and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Nigeria specialist Marc-Antoine Perouse de Montclos, said the Boko Haram insurgency is not an inter-religious" conflict pitting Muslims against Christians.