guardian.co.uk,
Internally displaced Syrians at the Atmeh refugee camp in Idlib province. Photograph: Anonymous/AP
"Outbreaks of hepatitis, typhoid, cholera or dysentery are "inevitable" in Syria and its neighbours this summer while cases of measles and other infections are already growing because of the country's broken health system and increasing numbers of displaced people, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.
More than a third of Syria's public hospitals are out of action, in some areas 70% of health workers have fled and 4.25m internally displaced Syrians are living in overcrowded insanitary conditions, it said. Shortages of safe drinking water and disruption to vaccination programmes are increasing the risks.
With thousands of Syrians crossing the borders each day, diseases already prevalent inside Syria are being transmitted to neighbouring countries, according to the WHO's regional office for the eastern Mediterranean.
"All the risk factors that enhance the transmission of communicable diseases in emergencies are present in the current crisis in Syria and its neighbouring countries," said Jaouad Mahjour, its director for communicable diseases. "We are anticipating a number of public health risks from water-borne diseases, specifically hepatitis, typhoid, cholera and dysentery. Given the scale of population movement both inside Syria and across borders, together with deteriorating environmental health conditions, outbreaks are inevitable."
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