The United Nations (UN) has admitted playing a part in starting a cholera epidemic that killed thousands in Haiti after an earthquake rocked the Caribbean nation in 2010.

Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, admitted for the first time​ that UN peacekeepers were involved in the initial spread of the disease in the country.

A new UN response is now needed to resolve the six-year crisis, he added.

“Over the past year, the UN has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera," Mr Haq said.

“[A] new response will be presented publicly within the next two months, once it has been fully elaborated, agreed with the Haitian authorities and discussed with member states.”

The comments come after years of denial from high-level UN officials regarding their involvement in the crisis.

Official statistics put the number of deaths from the epidemic at 9,200, with a further 800,000 made ill by the disease.

Some studies have said the total is far higher. Doctors without Borders place the total deaths at almost three times the official number.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with more than 55 per cent of the population living in poverty.

The cholera outbreak in 2010 came ten months after a devastating earthquake that killed 220,000. In the muddy and overcrowded temporary camps set up to house displaced citizens, the infection spread rapidly.

Six years after the disease was first seen in Haiti, the infection still flares up intermittently and continues to kill people. In March, an average of 37 cholera deaths a month were recorded.

The outbreak began near a base where 454 Nepali peacekeepers were housed, according to local findings. Cholera was rife at the time in Nepal, but had never before occurred in Haiti. Waste from the base leaked into the river, encouraging the spread of the disease. UN officials have insisted the origin of the epidemic is undetermined.

One recent draft report by a UN advisor and sent to the Secretary-General, said the cholera crisis, “would not have broken out but for the actions of the United Nations,” The New York Times reported.

Mario Joseph, a Haitian human rights lawyer representing victims of the epidemic, told the Associated Press: "This is a major victory for the thousands of Haitians who have been marching for justice, writing to the UN and bringing the UN to court.

"It is high time for the UN to make this right and prove to the world that 'human rights for all' means for Haitians too."

The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew Show all 14 1 /14 The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 11 October 2016 A woman illuminates her family with a candle as they sleep on the floor in a partially destroyed school used as a shelter after Hurricane Matthew hit Jeremie, Haiti Reuters The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 11 October 2016 Mist rises off the water as a flooded building is pictured after Hurricane Matthew passes in Lumberton, North Carolina, US Reuters The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 11 October 2016 Children sleep over metal sheets in a partially destroyed school used as a shelter after Hurricane Matthew hit Jeremie, Haiti Reuters The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 11 October 2016 People carry the coffin of a woman who died during Hurricane Matthew in Jeremie, Haiti Reuters The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 11 October 2016 Destroyed houses are seen after Hurricane Matthew passes Grande Cayemite, Haiti Reuters The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 11 October 2016 Clothes hang in an area destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in Les Anglais, Haiti Reuters The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 11 October 2016 A woman with cholera symptoms receives medical atention at the health center of Les Anglais, in Les Cayes in the southwest of Haiti Getty The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 11 October 2016 Residents line up for food after Hurricane Matthew in Anse D'Hainault, Haiti. Nearly a week after the storm smashed into southwestern Haiti, some communities have yet to receive any assistance, leaving residents who have lost their homes and virtually all of their belongings struggling to find shelter and water AP The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 10 October 2016 People sick with cholera receive medical assistance at Saint Antoine hospital in Jeremi, Haiti. According to the UN after hurricane Matthew the disease has spread EPA The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 10 October 2016 A woman and a child sit on a buckets amid the ruins of their home destroyed by Hurricane Matthew, in Jeremie, Haiti AP The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 10 October 2016 UN blue helmets load aid which arrived in US helicopters onto a truck for people affected by Hurricane Matthew, in Jeremie, southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti Getty The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 10 October 2016 A UN helicopter lands next to aid sent by the United States for the people affected by Hurricane Matthew, in Jeremie, southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti Getty The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 10 October 2016 A boat passes a church in Nichols, South Carolina. Nearly 1 million homes and businesses still did not have power Monday morning in the Carolinas after Hurricane Matthew AP The Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew 9 October 2016 Boats sit washed up on shore amongst the twisted docks at Palmetto Bay Marina damaged by Hurricane Matthew in Hilton Head, South Carolina AP

The UN has still not accepted any legal responsibility for the deaths or agreed to compensate the families of those affected.

“I don't believe that this is something that we're describing one way or another as reparations,” Mr Haq said, “our legal position on this issue has not changed since the last times that we've been discussing this [sic].”