WHO official on risk of infectious diseases in Syria

A senior official from the World Health Organization on Sunday said the risk of infectious diseases was growing in northern Syria as a result of the catastrophic earthquake.

Dr. Richard Brennan, WHO Regional Emergency Director said Syria had already pre-existing outbreaks of cholera and measles and they are working to step up control of infectious diseases. Brennan also said that a WHO team was ready to go to rebel-held areas of Syria as soon as they would get the go-ahead from”entities" in the northwest.

Northwest Syria relies almost entirely on aid for survival, but post-quake international assistance has been slow to reach the area. The first U.N. convoy to reach the area from Turkey was on Thursday, three days after the earthquake.