The European Parliament,

A. whereas the cholera epidemic which started in the Peruvian

city of Chimbote has spread rapidly in Latin America;

whereas it has caused around 4000 deaths in little more

than a year and infected over 400 000 people, some tens of

thousands of whom are deemed to be serious cases,

B. whereas, according to the WHO, the epidemic is continuing

to spread with on average 3500 new cases per week; whereas

hundreds of thousands of people are potential carriers of

the disease,

C. whereas those affected are always the poorest members of

society, i.e. the indigenous population, Indian communities

and the inhabitants of the poor, underprivileged areas of

big cities,

D. having regard to the difficulties in controlling and

containing the epidemic owing to the lack of adequate

health infrastructures such as hospitals, doctors,

medicines, medical equipment and decontamination

facilities, and the lack of other basic urban health

infrastructures and services such as drinking water, piped

water and sewers,

E. whereas cholera is a phenomenon resulting from the abject

poverty affecting tens of millions of people in Latin

America, hunger and malnutrition, the lack of medical and

health infrastructure and basic services, environmental

destruction and the lack of economic and social development

to meet fundamental human requirements,

F. whereas the epidemic has had serious economic repercussions

for several countries, such as a slump in exports, thereby

exacerbating a situation which is already difficult in

itself because of foreign debt and the fall in commodity

prices,

G. welcoming the recent meeting in Buenos Aires of the Health

Ministers of ten South American countries with the aim of

coordinating the campaign against the spread of cholera,

1. Calls on the Commission to provide emergency funding, and

to organize emergency economic and humanitarian aid for the

regions and countries most affected, in coordination with

the relevant international, regional and national

organizations - including the World Health Organization

(WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) - in

order to take concerted action to contain and eradicate the

disease;

2. Calls on the Commission to support the efforts to combat

the disease undertaken following the Buenos Aires meeting

of the Health Ministers of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,

Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and

Venezuela;

3. Draws attention to the seriousness of the situation which,

according to the WHO, resulted in 18 000 deaths throughout

the world in 1991; considers it essential that the

Community should press for the fight against cholera, which

is the result both of a lack of development and of

environmental destruction, to be included in the work of

the United Nations Conference on the Environment and

Development to be held in Rio in 1992;

4. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the

Commission, the Council, the WHO, the PAHO and the

governments of the Latin American countries.