(MENAFN) Cholera and malnutrition are leaving a high figure of deaths in children in Haiti, UNICEF rang a bell on Wednesday.
Two out of every five cholera patients in Haiti, or 40 percent of confirmed infections, are children. Nine out of 10 infections appear in areas where children struggle with severe acute malnutrition, as stated by the UN agency.
“In Haiti right now, there is a triple threat to children’s lives –malnutrition, cholera and armed violence. And sometimes all three together,” on the words of Manuel Fontaine, manager of the Office of Emergency Programmes, throughout a visit to Haiti. “In just a few hours, acute watery diarrhea and vomiting dehydrate and weaken them so much they may die without timely and adequate treatment."
"Cholera and malnutrition are a lethal combination, one leading to the other,” Fontaine added.
Ever since the beginning of a cholera pandemic on Oct. 2, the Ministry of Health has recorded almost 200 deaths and over 10,600 suspected infections in a population of 11 million people.
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