Islamabad , Pakistan ( CNN ) -- Amid the overwhelming flood disaster in Pakistan , the world has `` no choice but to be optimistic and to have hope '' that things can improve there , actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie told CNN Wednesday . Jolie is in the country as the personal envoy of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres . She spoke to CNN from Islamabad after touring flood-hit areas of Pakistan , including the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region . She described meeting a couple in their 70s who live on a pension and who watched as floodwater destroyed the family home they had worked hard to build . `` The woman is so embarrassed with her situation , and the man spoke of the fact that he never felt in his lifetime he is ever going to be able to recuperate what he 's lost -- that he would never again have nice things , he would never have a nice bed , a nice house , '' Jolie told CNN . `` They lived in this place since 1972 and raised their children and their grandchildren there . And in a moment , a few hours , it was completely gone . '' She said the area the couple lived in is now covered in mud and dirt , with feces in the fly-covered river nearby , all because of the floods . `` It does n't have the dignity that they deserve to live in -- anybody deserves to live in , '' Jolie said . The couple lives in the village of Mohib Banda , where some 70 percent of the homes were destroyed or badly damaged by the swirling floodwater , according to the UNHCR . The death toll in the country has climbed to 1,738 , the Pakistan Disaster Authority said over the weekend . Almost 21 million people have been affected by the flooding , Valerie Amos , the new U.N. emergency relief coordinator , said Monday . Water-borne illnesses from contaminated floodwaters have erupted nationwide . At least 1 million Pakistanis have crippling diarrhea or respiratory infections , and about 65,000 cases of malaria have been reported . Jolie 's visit is intended to highlight the suffering of the millions of flood victims and the need for continuing aid for the displaced . One reason relatively few people have paid attention to the suffering in Pakistan , Jolie said , may be disaster fatigue . She pointed out Pakistan has endured several disasters in recent years , including an earthquake in 2005 that killed more than 70,000 people . `` We tend to focus on one issue at a time , because that seems to be what people can absorb and care for , '' she said . She added that it 's difficult to convey the story of the disaster in Pakistan , and that even she had no idea what she would face . `` When I was standing in one of the houses , it was nine feet tall , the water . It was not a flood that made everything wet for a ( while ) . It washed away children right out of their parents ' hands . It destroyed lives . '' Jolie said she would want people to remember this : `` They are people . They are family , and lovely , lovely , hard-working people and beautiful children , and they deserve dignity and assistance , and we have to treat them with respect and try to preserve what we can of their livelihood and their future . '' The Pakistani people are resilient and will move on , Jolie said , but she urged international support to help them do that . `` I think we have no choice but to be optimistic and to have hope , '' she said . `` I think without that , we are just lost , and things deteriorate . ''
Jolie is in Pakistan as the envoy to the U.N. high commissioner for refugees . She toured flood-hit areas of Pakistan , including the northwest . Almost 21 million people have been affected by the floods .