Our Work

• Child Centred Community Development
• Areas of Work
  • Child Health and Early Development
  • Education
  • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
  • Economic Security
  • Sexual Health and HIV
  • Child Protection
  • Child Participation
  • Disaster Response and Risk Reduction
    • East Africa Food Crisis
    • Pakistan floods
    • Haiti: Earthquake
• Program Countries
• Child Sponsorship
• Priority Projects
• Campaigns
• Teachers and Schools

Our response to cholera in Haiti

Cholera continues to spread throughout Haiti, and at especially high rates in the North East region. Several factors are amplifying the crisis – lack of clean drinking water and access to health services, weak infrastructure, lack of sanitation facilities that often makes people defecate in the open, overcrowded camps in the earthquake-affected areas and tension and violence in certain parts of the country. A widespread lack of knowledge in remote areas about cholera’s cause and treatment options combined with long distances to health services are also contributing to a higher mortality rate.

Plan has been working in Haiti's communities since 1973 and is well positioned through its existing development and sponsorship work and post-earthquake response activities to reach thousands of vulnerable people throughout Haiti’s North East, South East and West departments.

Plan's response is primarily focused on prevention and public health measures. Case management of cholera cases will be supported through health services provided by Plan partners and other organisations. Where necessary, Plan will provide technical guidance and training.

As a child-centred agency, Plan seeks to focus on reducing the vulnerability of children to the cholera outbreak. Every effort will be made to identify and reach out to the most vulnerable children and families. At least 50 per cent of the activities are expected to directly benefit children and women.

Our response

Through our existing strong presence in communities and strong partnerships with youth groups, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations and the government of Haiti, Plan has started to implement health and hygiene promotion, preventive and care and treatment activities in three geographical locations – Jacmel (South East), Croix –des-Bouquets (West) and in the North East (Ounaminthe, Fort Liberte and Trou du Nord). We have initiated measures to deliver the much-needed oral rehydration salts, soap, chlorine and drinking water containers to schools, IDP camps and other community centres. We are supporting the establishment of cholera treatment units in hard-to-reach areas, training health workers, and improving water and sanitation facilities through Plan's existing cash for work programmes. Lessons learnt from the earthquake response are informing our strategy.

Plan Haiti has been responding to the cholera situation since the outbreak began in October. So far Plan has conducted mass sensitisation campaigns, supported health partners in Corail and Santo 17 camps to set up cholera treatment units (CTUs), distributed cholera prevention and hygiene kits to camp committees and trained youth groups on delivering hygiene messages to communities.

In November, Plan started to deploy specialists in health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) to help scale up activities due to the situation’s rising urgency. We also have started to mobilise more resources and have made the cholera response the highest priority in Plan Haiti at the moment. Plan Haiti’s activities in response to the cholera crisis have amplified in recent weeks across three programme areas. Many of these activities are expected to continue throughout the emergency phase. A review in December will set the roadmap for the next phase of emergency response and our long-term work.

Activities undertaken by Plan Haiti

• Constituted a task force comprising of national and deployed international specialists.
• Conducted a needs assessment in and developed a cholera response plan.
• Conducted mass public health and hygiene campaigns, supported the setting up of CTUs, distributed cholera prevention and hygiene kits to camp committees and trained youth groups on hygiene messaging.
• Took measures to start cash for work programmes in camps, for cleanliness and disinfection.
• Prioritised cholera response as the top priority until end December. Reaching out to rural areas not covered by other organisations (such as in the North East) is a priority.
• Deployed a specialist team, comprising of WaSH and medical experts, in all three of Plan's operational areas – Croix des Bouquets, South East and North East.
• Regular engagement with UN clusters, government officials and/or coordination mechanisms at Port Au Prince and in North East.
• Strengthened partnerships with government authorities and local partners.
• Regular engagement with UN clusters, government officials and/or coordination mechanisms at Port Au Prince and in North East.
• Airlifted essential materials to programme areas.
• Scaled up advocacy, media and visibility work.
• Undertook resource mobilisation and negotiations with donors.
• Prepared security, procurement, logistics and capacity plans. Developed a contingency plan to cover the security implications of possible civil unrest after the elections. Plan's current priorities
• Public health education and hygiene promotion.
• Resource mobilisation, financial and technical expertise.
• Recruitment and deployment of technical experts (public health and those with case management experience).
• Procurement and distribution of hygiene promotion and sanitation materials.
• Identification and training of youth volunteers, parents and teachers.
• Advocacy and policy-influencing work.
• Delivery of sensitisation and information messages.
• Disinfection activity in all intervention areas (toilets in schools, camps and communities).
• Technical and strategic support to government and partner organisations to design and implement the cholera response plan at the local level.
• Orientation on Plan's cholera response plan with all partners.
• Recruitment and training of health brigades.
• Identification and reaching out to the most vulnerable, including people at risk of HIV.
• Coordination and information sharing with the government, UN systems and affected communities.

The situation remains dynamic. However, Plan's cholera response plan is based on the overall projection which the Pan-American Health Organization has given – 400,000 cases of cholera over the next 12 months, 50 per cent of them in the next three months. Therefore, our response plan has two components.

• An emergency response phase, which lasts from 30 to up to 180 days.
• Long-term two-year strategy.

The emergency phase will organically integrate into the already-developed community-led total sanitation (CLTS) programme.

Key partners

• Government partners such as the Ministry of Health, North East health department and Civil Protection Department.
• Community groups, school directors, parent and teacher associations, youth groups.
• Coordination mechanism (through active engagement in cluster systems and coordination mechanism at the capital and local levels.)

About Plan

Plan is one of the oldest and largest children's development organisations in the world. We work with communities in 50 developing countries and raise funds to support our work in 21 countries like Australia. By actively involving children, and working at a grassroots level with no religious or political agenda, we unite and inspire people around the globe to transform the world for children.