UN to help Haiti overcome cholera epidemic

While declining to comment on a lawsuit brought against the world body over the spread of cholera in Haiti, Farhan Haq, the associate UN spokesperson during a press conference here, made the pledge to help in tackling cholera problem.

Earlier Wednesday, human rights lawyers representing Haitian victims of a cholera epidemic said they had filed suit in US District Court in Manhattan, New York, against the UN, accusing it of having introduced the bacteria to Haiti, where the epidemic has killed more than 8,300 people and sickened over 700,000 since October 2010.

"The United Nations is working on the ground with the government and people of Haiti both to provide immediate and practical assistance to those affected, and to put in place better infrastructure and services for all," Haq said.

"With regard to possible claims against the Organization, as has been stated with regard to other cases that are subject to litigation, it is not the United Nations' practice to discuss in public claims filed against the Organisation."

UN officials have said that they are committed to eradicating the cholera, but they have not conceded that the Organisation was inadvertently responsible for causing it.