2.3m people have fled Venezuela: UN
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that those fleeing - about 7 per cent of Venezuela's 32.8 million people - cite lack of food as the main reason for leaving. UN humanitarian officials report that 1.3 million of those who fled were suffering from malnourishment, he said.
Oil-rich Venezuela has been sinking deeper into an economic and political crisis. Hyperinflation and widespread shortages of food and medicine are battering the country, and the International Monetary Fund projects inflation could top 1 million percent by year's end.
Socialist President Nicolas Maduro often blames Venezuela's poor economy on what he claims is an economic war being waged by the United States and Europe.
Despite widespread discontent over the country's economic and political problems, he won a second six-year term as president in a May election that his leading challenger and many nations have not recognized as legitimate.
Dujarric said severe shortages of basic medicines and medical supplies in Venezuela have led to a sharp deterioration of the quality of hospitals.
UN officials say more than 100,000 HIV patients are at risk due to lack of access to necessary medication, the UN spokesman said. Formerly eradicated diseases including measles, malaria, tuberculosis and diphtheria are present and on the rise, he added.
