Human Rights Watch and public health researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine are urging the United Nations to declare the situation in Venezuela "a complex humanitarian emergency that poses a serious risk to the region".

They appealed to the Security Council ahead of its meeting on Wednesday on Venezuela's humanitarian crisis to ask Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make a declaration because their research shows severe medicine and food shortages in Venezuela, and disease spreading across its borders.

Dr. Kathleen Page of Johns Hopkins says Guterres "should ring the alarm bell and demonstrate leadership by ensuring that the UN's vast resources can be mobilised for the Venezuelan people in a way that is neutral, independent, and impartial".