Haiti: Rains threaten revival of cholera epidemic

Plan has been spreading awareness messages by providing training on how to prevent cholera onboard a roaming bus.

Haiti is facing a further rise in cholera outbreaks as the rainy season threatens to revive the epidemic. Plan staff in Haiti are currently preparing for new cholera cases, work that will be  critical to saving lives.

Nearly 5000 people have died in Haiti since the outbreak of cholera in October last year, mostly due to lack of clean water and poor access to health care. 

John Chaloner, Plan’s Country Director in Haiti, said: "Since the beginning of the epidemic, we have been making sure that vulnerable people, especially children, receive free access to safe and clean drinking water, lifesaving rehydration treatments near their homes, and key public health messages."

In the North-east, West and South-east — three of Haiti's 10 administrative departments — we working closely with Haiti's Ministry of Health on cholera awareness, prevention and treatment.

Over the past months, Plan has delivered some 35,000 kits to families, each containing oral rehydration salts, soap, chlorine and drinking water containers along with instructions written in Creole. We have trained more than 1200 health workers in how to manage strategically placed health sites, where anyone who has fallen ill can reach trained health personnel and access lifesaving rehydration treatment.

Plan Haiti is also providing and installing 1000 gallon Tuff Tanks (water cisterns) in hundreds of schools and community health centres to ensure sustainable access to safe and clean drinking water for as many people as possible.
 
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also warned that cholera cases could dramatically rise with the heavy rains expected between June and November. The organisation has drawn attention to a wide funding gap for the $125 million UN cholera response appeal; only 48 per cent of this money has been provided by donors.

"All-around decreased funding for cholera from international donors is causing concern that the NGOs may not be able to fill the gaps that the local health authorities cannot cover," said Mr Chaloner. "The impact will be felt particularly in hard-to-reach communities, likely to be worst affected during the rainy season."

The ongoing cholera crisis has been compounding the impact of the January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless.

New President Michel Martelly, inaugurated on May 14, has said that stopping the cholera outbreak as well as relocating thousands of displaced people from camps would be two of his immediate priorities.

Download 'Plan's response to cholera in Haiti' report.

Find out more about Plan's work in Haiti.

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Media contact: David Cook, 0448 816 900