UN: Cholera Epidemic Threatens Haiti's National Security, More Help Needed

As Haiti’s cholera epidemic continues to spread through out the country, United Nations officials fear the crisis might become unmanageable if world governments and humanitarian actors fail to provide additional assistance.  In anticipation of a nationwide outbreak, the UN and its partner organizations have released a 163 million dollar appeal to bolster humanitarian response to the epidemic that has so far claimed the lives of at least 900 people and hospitalized another 14 000. In a tele-conference from Haiti this afternoon, Nigel Fisher, Humanitarian Coordinator for the UN mission in Haiti, said these numbers were based on Haitian Ministry of Health accounts of hospitalized patients and would increase significantly once more data was collected in the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, protests outside UN bases and cholera treatment centers have erupted over the past few days. Fisher says much of these protests have been sparked by a lack available public information on cholera, and that UN and Haitian officials are working hard to make sure people understand having a treatment center in their community does not increase their chances of infection. The origin of the cholera epidemic, a disease that had never been seen in Haiti before,  has also played a part in the unrest. Some Haitians believe UN peacekeepers from Nepal, where cholera is still prevalent, might be responsible for the current outbreak although UN officials say testing of the Nepalese base and soldiers have since disproved these allegations. 

The current global economic climate and amount of aid recently pledged to Haiti after the devastating January 12th earthquake has also led many to question the international community’s desire of making another important humanitarian and financial commitment to the country.  But Fisher says he received encouraging responses from donors only a few hours after the appeal was first announced. “We have had several postive responses both in cash and in terms of shipments and we have had urgent shipments of medical supplies come in over the weekend”. On Friday, the Secretary General’s deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq argued the amount was modest given the magnitude of the crisis it could help avert.“Whenever we put out an appeal, there is always a challenge in making sure it will be funded” said Haq. “We do believe that the nations of the world appreciate the severity of this problem. As you can see this is something, where just a few weeks ago we were talking about dozens of cases , now we are talking about something that could potentially affect , to some degree, as many as 200 000 people. So we are hopeful the money will come.”

Along with improving access to medical treatment and clean water, the UN humanitarian strategy’s would also focus on providing waste management services and ensuring safe sanitary conditions for communities at risk. A bacterial infection transmitted through ingestion of contaminated water, cholera can usually be treated effectively with the administration of oral re-hydration salts and clean drinking water. But Haiti is still struggling to recover from the January earthquake that killed more than 250 000 and left well over a million people homeless. Ten months after the disaster,more than a million people are still living in temporary camps with often little more than a plastic tarp as shelter and limited access to safe drinking water. Heavy rainfall, flooding and mud slides brought on by Hurricane Tomas last week have also exacerbated poor hygiene and sanitary conditions.