More than 18,000 cases of cholera have been recorded in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince since the beginning of May, an increase that may be related to “the beginning of the rainy season and the flooding that hit the capital,” according to Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesperson, Agence France-Presse reports. “While the number of new cases recorded within the city has decreased slightly over the last two weeks, the infection continues to spread in rural and isolated areas,” according to the news service (6/25).

“WHO said the number of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) fighting cholera in the country had decreased from several hundred at the beginning of the outbreak last year to about 60 because of insufficient funding. For the same reason, the remaining NGOs had cut their programs in providing clean water and sanitation and other measures to contain the epidemic,” Xinhua writes (Zhang, 6/24).

According to the Haiti Ministry of Health, there have been 344,623 cases of cholera and 5,397 deaths since the disease outbreak began in October. The health ministry in neighboring Dominican Republic said that country had recorded 1,727 confirmed cases, including 46 deaths, the U.N. News Centre reports (6/24).