UN warns of cholera outbreak in Syria: “The risk is serious”

Concerned about outbreaks cholera in many areas of it Syria they are the experts. As his representative pointed out UN in the country for the Coordination of Humanitarian Operations Imran Riza, calling for urgent action to limit the spread of the disease there is a “serious risk to the population and the region”.

Cholera outbreaks are believed to be linked to crop irrigation with contaminated water and the consumption of dangerous water from the Euphrates River, explains the UN representative.

The destruction of Syria’s water infrastructure after 11 years of war means that much of the Syrian population depends on dangerous water reimgs.

Richard Brennan, the World Health Organization’s Regional Director of Emergencies for the Eastern Mediterranean region, said that since August 25, the organization has recorded 8 deaths from cholera: 6 in the Aleppo region and 2 in Deir Ezzor province.

“This is the first confirmed outbreak of cholera in recent years. “The geographic expansion creates cause for concern, so we will have to act quickly,” he told Reuters.

The appearance of cholera, as reported by the Athens News Agency, is concentrated in the Aleppo region, where more than 70% of the total 936 suspected cases have been recorded, and in the Deir Ezzor region, with 20% of the cases. A smaller number of cases have been reported in the regions of Raqqa, al-Hasakah, Hama and Lattakia.

The number of confirmed cases is 20 in Aleppo, 4 in Lattakia and 2 in Damascus.

Before the recent cholera outbreak, the water crisis in Syria had caused diseases such as diarrhea, malnutrition and skin diseases in the region, according to the World Health Organization.

Richard Brennan stated that the World Health Organisation appeals to donors to increase funding to deal with cholera outbreaks in areas of the Middle East, including Pakistan where flooding has worsened a pre-existing situation.