The senior coordinator of the United Nations Cholera Response in Haiti, Pedro Medrano Rojas, has called for more attention to the situation in the country. Cholera has declined from 350,000 cases at the outset of the epidemic in October 2010 to 60,000 in 2013 and 2012 and now to 28,000 in 2014. This has led to the perception there is no emergency and has resulted in resources leaving Haiti, he explains. Medrano said, however, that 28,000 cases would be considered an emergency in any country in the world. He called for more resources for Haiti to fight the disease. The disease was brought to Haiti by an infected UN peacekeeper.
Acknowledging that “progress has been made,” Medrano warned:
“We need to understand that in Haiti, the water and sanitation infrastructure, even the health infrastructure, is very weak. So it will take years to have proper systems in place, especially water and sanitation. Haiti is perhaps the country with the lowest coverage of water and sanitation in the whole Latin American region.”
He explained that the persistence of cholera in Haiti is mainly due to the lack of access to clean water and appropriate sanitation facilities, and although considerable improvements have been made in this regard, the small Caribbean nation continues to host the largest cholera epidemic in the Western Hemisphere. To date, the epidemic has affected some 725,600 people and claimed over 8,800 lives in Haiti since October 2010.
“But I think that what is important is perhaps to remind the international community how important it is today not to forget the cholera outbreak in Haiti. That’s the main purpose. We are not competing with Ebola. I think that every emergency deserves the support of the international community. But I think there’s no justification in today’s world to have thousands of people affected and even people dying because of cholera n a disease that can be treated, and it’s not necessarily a disease that kills if it is properly treated and in a timely way.”
He called for more resources for the Haitian government’s “Total Sanitation Campaign.”
At the announcement, Public Health Minister in the Dominican Republic Altagracia Guzman Marcelino said: “The most important thing is early detection to implement corrective measures,” while describing the hygiene and drinking water safety measures implemented to reduce the number of cases on this side of the island.
The cholera outbreak in Haiti entered the Dominican Republic in 2010. Cases here have been contained to a minimum, but so far this year 115 cases have been reported, 72% in Greater Santo Domingo, Santiago and Pedernales.
See more at:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/newsmakers.asp?NewsID=117
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2015/03/02/i1035961_clera-afecta-100-personas-pas-los-dos-primeros-meses-este.html