The Latest: UN health agency deploys teams for Mosul exodus

Kurdish Peshmerga prepare to fire artillery at Islamic State positions in Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. Iraqi Kurdish fighters exchanged heavy fire with IS militants early on Monday as they advanced from two directions on a town held by the Islamic State group east of the city of Mosul. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) Kurdish Peshmerga prepare to fire artillery at Islamic State positions in Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. Iraqi Kurdish fighters exchanged heavy fire with IS militants early on Monday as they advanced from two directions on a town held by the Islamic State group east of the city of Mosul. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

By Associated Press November 7, 2016 2 min read

BAGHDAD (AP) – The Latest on the battle in Iraq, now entering its fourth week, to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group (all times local):

12:55 p.m.

The U.N. health agency says it has set up 82 “rapid response teams” to manage risks of epidemics, chemicals exposure and other health worries among people fleeing Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul.

The World Health Organization says that water and sanitation in camps for displaced people could “face disruptions” as the numbers of those who fled Mosul is growing, raising the risk of food- and water-borne diseases such as cholera.

In its statement on Monday, WHO also says that additional concerns include children who reportedly haven’t been immunized since the radical Islamic State group seized control of Iraq’s second largest city in June 2014.