MOGADISHU, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations humanitarian agency has said it needs 10.7 million U.S. dollars to respond immediately to a cholera outbreak in Somalia.

"The current epidemiological data indicates that an estimated 1.2 million people are at risk of being infected in 2024," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its report released on Monday evening.

The OCHA said the heavy rains are expected to worsen the current outbreak of acute watery diarrhea (AWD)/cholera, which is already significantly high in some hotspot locations.

Meanwhile, at least 7,200 cases of cholera have been reported, with 75 deaths since January, according to the Ministry of Health and Human Services.

The ongoing cholera outbreak in Somalia is mainly attributed to a growing number of people with limited access to safe water and adequate sanitation facilities.

Somalia has had uninterrupted AWD/cholera transmission since 2022 and in the Banadir region since the drought of 2017, according to the World Health Organization.

In 2023, more than 18,300 cumulative cases and 46 deaths were reported, with over half being children aged below five years. Enditem

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