UN agencies scale up response to Haiti cholera outbreak

(Xinhua) The United Nations and partners are scaling up aid to Haiti, which has been hit with a spreading cholera outbreak, a UN spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, continues to support Haiti’s Ministry of Health in epidemiological surveillance, said Stephanie Tremblay, an associate spokeswoman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. PAHO, reporting the outbreak spread last week beyond the metropolitan area of the capital Port-au-Prince, is distributing medical equipment and therapeutics to the 20 cholera centers operating in the country, Tremblay said.