GENEVA, August 19, 2008 (AFP) - Floods in western Africa have displaced at least 186,000 people, and urgent international aid is needed to help victims and prevent the spread of disease, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday.

At least 150,000 people in Benin, 24,000 in Niger and 12,000 in Togo have been displaced by the floods, the WHO said.

Heavy rains forecast to last until September are also expected to worsen the food crisis which had already hit the region as crops are washed away.

'West Africa's annual floods bring with them not only the threat of vector-borne and communicable diseases, but it further endangers the lives of people already malnourished by the food price crisis,' said Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General of the WHO's Health Action in Crises Cluster.

The WHO said Benin, Togo, Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso are in need of urgent aid. The floods have claimed at least nine lives in Togo estimates

In these countries, even infrastructure that were required for aid delivery such as bridges, roads and railway lines have been destroyed by the floods.

While about 76 million dollars was needed for emergency health care for the region, only 22 percent of this sum has been met so far, WHO added.