| ■ UN appeals for funds for Haiti cholera cases | 2010.11.26 |
| The UN called on donors to urgently fund its emergency appeal to help Haiti deal with a cholera epidemic, warning Friday that inaction could lead to a ten-fold rise in the number of people infected. "On the appeal for 164 million dollars, we are today still at 19.4 million dollars," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "It's very slow. We must continue to be vigilant to avoid having to deal with the worst-case scenario as seen by the World Health Organisation of around 400,000 people who could be affected," she added. Haitian authorities said the cholera epidemic, which began in mid-October, has killed 1,603 people and left around 30,000 hospitalised. The WHO had previously planned for a worst-case scenario of 200,000 cases, but the UN said that the epidemic has developed more quickly than expected. |