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UN backs conference to prevent recurrence
of cholera outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan
15.4.2008
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April 15, 2008
A United Nations-backed international conference is
under way in Iraq’s Kurdistan region to draw up
measures to prevent a recurrence of last year’s
cholera outbreak, which saw more than 30,000 people
fall ill with acute watery diarrhoea.
“Last year’s crisis demonstrated how crucial it is
to embark on concerted efforts to urgently improve
the delivery of basic services to the population in
order that another outbreak of cholera does not
occur again this year,” UN Development Programme (UNDP)
country director Paolo Lembo told the gathering of
the disease,www.ekurd.net
which is spread by
drinking contaminated water and in extreme cases can
be fatal.
“The United Nations will do everything it can to
support such efforts,” he said, citing the need for
the international community’s assistance given the
risks for the region of another outbreak.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special
Representative for Iraq Staffan de Mistura and
Kurdistan Regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani
are patrons of the conference, and UNDP, the UN
World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are participating.
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