PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) –The United Nations and Haiti on Tuesday appealed for $145.6 million to help fight a fresh wave of cholera that has already killed 161 people in six weeks.

It is the first outbreak of the deadly diarrheal disease in three years, since the Caribbean nation stamped out a cholera epidemic that began in 2010 and killed more than 10,000 people over the next eight years.

Haiti’s health ministry on Monday reported 8,708 suspected cases, with 7,623 people hospitalized, as the disease has spread to seven of the country’s 10 departments.

In a statement, the United Nations called for “$145.6 million to support the country in its emergency response against the new wave of cholera and bring the necessary aid to 1.4 million people living in the most vulnerable areas.”

“Cholera is an avoidable and treatable disease, and national institutions – using their experience and knowledge – quickly set up an effective response, in close cooperation with the local and international humanitarian community,” said United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Ulrika Richardson.

According to his Twitter account, Prime Minister Ariel Henry also participated in the call to fund the emergency cholera response.

The UN statement said that 500,000 people are at risk of contracting the disease.

Additionally, 4.7 million people – almost half of the population – are facing high levels of food insecurity, “putting over 19,200 people in a disaster situation, for the first time in the history of Haiti.”

The country is also in the grip of instability provoked by armed gangs terrorizing the population.

Last week police managed to flush out gunmen who had held the country’s main oil import terminal for two months.

The stranglehold had caused severe fuel shortages and prevented the delivery of drinking water which was key to fighting the cholera outbreak.

The UN said the gangs were using “sexual violence as a weapon to terrorize the population.”

It added that almost 100,000 people had been displaced in the violence that has engulfed the country since June 2021.