UN: Budget cuts causing cholera deaths in Haiti

Thursday May 24, 2012 12:00 PM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A United Nations official says that people in Haiti are dying from cholera because funding to stem the disease is drying up.

John Ging of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says there is an urgent need for new ways to tackle the disease and for aid donors.

The U.N. says that 13,000 people have been treated for cholera so far this year and 132 have died. The numbers are expected to increase because of budget cuts.

Health officials say the waterborne illness has killed more than 7,100 people since it was likely introduced to Haiti by a U.N. unit from Nepal. More than 536,000 others have fallen ill.

Ging made the statement Thursday following a three-day visit to Haiti.

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