UN official warns: Cholera situation in Syria could become "catastrophic"

ARK News… The World Health Organization announced an outbreak of cholera in 10 Syrian governorates and its spread throughout the country.

Deputy United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Najat Rushdie, on Friday said that the humanitarian work team of the International Syria Support Group has warned that the cholera situation in the country could become "catastrophic."

Rushdie added, through her Twitter account, that she chaired a meeting of team members in Geneva, where they stressed the need to provide urgent aid to confront the outbreak.

The team members also stressed that sustainable and unimpeded access to the affected population areas is "inevitable".

The European Union mission to Syria this month announced the provision of additional support to help contain the outbreak of cholera in the country, while the Union warned that nearly half of the Syrians depend on unsafe water sources.

The World Health Organization has reported an outbreak of cholera in 10 Syrian governorates and its spread throughout the country, warning of the seriousness of the situation.

The head of the WHO team on cholera and epidemic diarrheal diseases, Philip Barbosa, on Friday said that the cholera outbreak in Syria is spreading in 10 governorates and spreading throughout the country.

Barbosa also explained that the situation is alarming, with 33 deaths and 426 injuries recorded.

contaminated food or water

It is noteworthy that the cholera outbreak represents a danger in the country, especially across the fronts of the war that has been going on in the country for 11 years, and raises more fears in the camps crowded with displaced people who do not have clean drinking water or sanitation, according to Reuters.

At first, it was linked to polluted water near the Euphrates River. But the epidemic has now spread throughout the country, and infections have been recorded in both regime-controlled and opposition-controlled areas.

Cholera is also spread by eating contaminated food or water and can cause severe diarrhea. The World Health Organization's website says that cholera can kill people with it within hours if they do not receive treatment because most people it transmits have mild or no symptoms.

According to the European Commission, more than 13,000 suspected cases of cholera were announced in 13 Syrian governorates by early October.

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