The cholera epidemic that struck haiti 2 years ago

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THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC THAT STRUCK HAITI 2 YEARS AGO
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THE GUARDIAN
November 13, 2012


(Common Dreams-November 14, 2012)

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***the cholera epidemic that struck Haiti two years ago.

Most people I talk to don't even know that United Nations troops brought this deadly disease to Haiti in October of 2010. There hadn't been any cholera in Haiti for at least 100 years, if ever, until some UN troops from South Asia dumped human waste into a tributary of the country's main water supply. Since then, more than 7,600 Haitians have died and over 600,000 have gotten sick.

If Haiti were any other country in this hemisphere, a human-created disaster of this proportion would be a big international scandal and everyone would know about it. Not to mention the institution responsible for inflicting this damage – in this case, the UN – would be held accountable. At the very least, they would have to get rid of the epidemic.

In this case, getting rid of the epidemic could be easily accomplished. Cholera is transmitted mainly through drinking water that is contaminated by the deadly bacteria. To get rid of it, you need to create an infrastructure where people have clean drinking water and adequate sanitation. The Pan American Health Organization estimates that this would cost about $1bn for Haiti. In fact, that is close to what the UN has been spending in just one year to keep its 10,000 troops in the country.

Furthermore, these troops have no legitimate mission in Haiti. They are not "peacekeeping" troops, as they are often inaccurately described. There is no peace agreement for them to enforce, nor is there a post-conflict situation that would justify their presence.

In fact, the UN troops were brought into Haiti in 2004, after Haiti's democratically-elected government was overthrown by a coup that the United States and its allies helped organize. Their stay in Haiti has been marred by a series of scandals and abuses, including the killing of civilians, and a number of prominent cases of rape and sexual abuse of Haitians. According to polling data, most Haitians do not want them there.


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The deaths of those within the piles of dead found in the German concentration camps as the war wound down,
were caused by cholera, a common and ever recurring camp disease, and our starvation and blocking of medical supplies to the camps by bombing was a monumental multiplier of the deaths.

But most Americans, fooled by America's own propaganda lies, believe Germany murdered 6 millions Jews between 1939 and 1945 and point to those piles bodies
and to fact the camps had crematoriums
as evidence that Germany did so

Mark Twain, well aware of America's psychasthenia,
said something like
it is easier to fool the people
than explain to them that they have been fooled
and so I will not attempt to do so here,
or to do anything but affirm, as best I can,
the charges made in the above article.

Whatever you may believe, our foreign-related, unAmerican rulers are a disease that causes suffering and death wherever "the new century America" goes and whatever it touches

We cannot cure such disease by dissolving the Union.

But we can cure it by creating a politically militant party based on clearly stated democratic principles ; a party that will not demand we receive back but that will take back our government.

SHOCKLEY

 

[waltky]

UN thumbs its nose at Haiti...

UN rejects damage claim for Haiti cholera victims
Feb 21,`13 -- The United Nations rejected a claim for damages on behalf of more than 5,000 Haitian cholera victims and their families on Thursday, citing diplomatic immunity.

The claim was filed in November 2011 by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, a Boston-based human rights group that contended the U.N. and its peacekeeping force are liable for hundreds of millions of dollars for failing to adequately screen peacekeeping soldiers. It cited studies suggesting that the disease was inadvertently brought to Haiti by a U.N. battalion from Nepal, where cholera is endemic. A local contractor failed to properly sanitize the waste of a U.N. base, and the bacteria leaked into a tributary of one of Haiti's biggest rivers, according to one study by a U.N.-appointed panel.

Cholera has sickened nearly 500,000 people and killed over 7,750 people since the outbreak began in October 2010, according to the Haitian government. About half the people in the country of 10 million have no bathroom at all and sanitation access is the worst in the Western Hemisphere. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the United Nations informed representatives of the claimant of the U.N. rejection on Thursday. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called Haitian President Michel Martelly to inform him of the decision "and to reiterate the commitment of the United Nations to the elimination of cholera in Haiti," Nesirky said.

Brian Concannon, the institute's director, said that after 15 months, the rejection was a single sentence, based on the world organization's immunity, which said the claims are "not receivable" because they concern "a review of political and policy matters." "Our case is about the U.N. dumping contaminated sewage in Haiti's waters that has caused thousands of deaths," he said. "Under this definition, any harm that the U.N. does to anybody would be a matter of policy." Concannon told The Associated Press: "We're disappointed because the U.N. is passing up a chance to stop cholera's killing, and to show leadership in promoting the rule of law."

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UN faces deadline to recompense Haiti for cholera outbreak...

Haiti cholera victims threaten to sue the UN
8 May 2013 Victims of Haiti's cholera epidemic have given the United Nations a 60-day deadline to start talks about billions of dollars worth of compensation or face legal action.

The UN is accused of negligently allowing peacekeeping soldiers to pollute Haiti's water with cholera. A UN cholera expert agrees that this is "most likely" to be true. The UN rejected an earlier call for compensation and continues to insist it is immune from legal proceedings. The cholera epidemic began in Haiti in 2010 near a camp for UN soldiers, where there were leaking sewage pipes. Some human waste was also dumped near a river outside the camp.

The victims include the families of the 8000 people who have died and hundreds of thousands of people who have fallen sick

The camp housed UN soldiers from Nepal, where cholera is endemic. The UN's own cholera expert, Danielle Lantagne, has said that Haiti's outbreak is likely to have come from UN soldiers. The victims include relatives of the 8,000 people who have died and hundreds of thousands of people who have fallen sick. Lawyers for the victims say the UN is breaking international law. They say they will open legal proceedings in New York with claims totalling many billions of dollars if the UN does not start talks within 60 days.

The lawyers say they will file claims for $100,000 (£64,000) for the families of those who have died and $50,000 (£32,000) for every one of the hundreds of thousands who have fallen sick. The UN's relative silence on the matter so far may be because it simply does not know what to do in the face of what could be a series of catastrophic and deadly errors, says the BBC's International Development Correspondent Mark Doyle.

BBC News - Haiti cholera victims threaten to sue the UN

 

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WHO says Cholera Vaccine to Double...

Global Supply of Cholera Vaccine to Double
January 08, 2016 GENEVA — The World Health Organization reports more life-saving cholera vaccine soon will be available to help nations struggling to contain outbreaks of the killer disease.

Two manufacturers currently produce three million doses of cholera vaccine. The WHO says the global supply is set to double this year after it approved a third company to produce the vaccine. The producer, a South Korean company called EuBiologics, is the latest oral cholera vaccine manufacturer to be approved under the WHO’s pre-qualification program, which ensures the quality, safety and efficacy of the product.

Dr. Stephen Martin, an expert in WHO's Emergency Vaccines and Stockpiles Division, calls it good news. He says the doubling of the global stockpile of oral cholera vaccines to six million doses will help address chronic shortages. He says last year, WHO had more demand for the product than it could meet. As a consequence, he says the agency had to turn down requests from Sudan and Haiti for the vaccine. “We have used it largely in outbreaks in humanitarian crises. But, this additional producer will permit us to perhaps go even further and to start using the vaccine in endemic situations, which is predictable. Time and time again, in many countries, you can see the rainy season starting and the cholera cases increasing," said Martin.

A South Sudanese baby suffering from cholera is being attended by medics in Juba Teaching Hospital in Juba​

Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease that can kill within hours if left untreated. Globally, an estimated 1.5 billion people are at risk of cholera. The WHO reports there are up to 4.3 million cases a year, with as many as 142,000 deaths. The disease is endemic in more than 50 countries. Martin says a cholera vaccination campaign is due to begin in Haiti at the end of the month. Unfortunately, he adds, it will be a reduced campaign as the WHO only will be able to supply 240,000 of the 800,000 doses requested by the government.

He says WHO expects more manufacturers will come forward to produce the vaccine. Increased production, he notes, will lead to lower prices. He says he expects the current price of $1.85 a dose will go down to $1.45 a dose. He expects the demand for the vaccine will be particularly high in Africa this year. Martin says climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon are contributing to more frequent outbreaks of cholera and it is likely behind recent outbreaks seen in places, such as Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya.

Global Supply of Cholera Vaccine to Double

See also:

Researchers: Malaria Treatment Fails in Cambodia Due to Drug Resistance
January 08, 2016 — Malaria-carrying parasites in parts of Cambodia have developed resistance to a major drug used to treat the disease in Southeast Asia, according to research published on Thursday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

The drug piperaquine, used in combination with the drug artemisinin, has been the main form of malaria treatment in Cambodia since 2008. The combination is also one of the few treatments still effective against multi-drug-resistant malaria which has emerged in Southeast Asia in recent years, and which experts fear may spread to other parts of the world. "[Treatment] failures are caused by both artemisinin and piperaquine resistance, and commonly occur in places where dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine has been used in the private sector," researchers said.

Artemisinin resistance has been found in five countries in Southeast Asia - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Resistance to both artemisinin and drugs used in combination with it has developed in parts of Cambodia and Thailand. Experts are particularly concerned that artemisinin resistance will spread to sub-Saharan Africa where about 90 percent of malaria cases and deaths occur. "Because few other artemisinin combination therapies are available, and because artemisinin resistance will probably accelerate resistance to any partner drug, investigations of alternative treatment approaches are urgently needed," the researchers said.

An Anopheles stephensi mosquito obtains a blood meal from a human host in this undated handout photo​

They suggest an alternative treatment should be tested, comprising artesunate, a form of artemisinin, combined with mefloquine, a different long-acting partner drug. "The intensive spread of artemisinin resistance in Cambodia is rapidly threatening to reduce the efficacy of all artemisinin combination therapies used in this country and in bordering areas of Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand," the article said.

Malaria patients in areas with drug-resistant malaria should be treated in hospital, the researchers said, "... intensified efforts are needed to discourage what appears to be a highly ineffective approach of self-treatment in the private sector." The research was produced by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. About 3.2 billion people - almost half the world's population - are at risk of malaria, according to the World Health Organization.

Researchers: Malaria Treatment Fails in Cambodia Due to Drug Resistance

 

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Cholera still killing in Haiti...

In Haiti, Cholera Quietly Still Kills Dozens a Month
March 03, 2016 — A dozen people reclined on cots inside the clinic in the Haitian capital, a few so sick they were receiving intravenous infusions to rehydrate their bodies and spare them an agonizing death.

The worst off one recent morning was a thin and spectral man, weak from the vomiting and diarrhea caused by cholera. But all were expected to survive. The disease spread by contaminated water is easily treatable but can lead to death within hours if unattended. “However I got it, I really hope I never get this sick again,” another patient, Estin Josue, said as he recovered inside an immaculately clean and orderly treatment center in downtown Port-au-Prince run by Gheskio Centers, a Haitian medical organization. Josue and his fellow patients were relatively lucky, getting sick relatively close to the country's first permanent cholera treatment center. Many others are not as fortunate as Haiti continues to wrestle with the worst outbreak of the disease in recent history.
Worst outbreak in recent history

Cholera, which arrived in Haiti in October 2010, has sickened more than 770,000 people, or about 7 percent of the population, and killed more than 9,200. So far this year, it has sickened more than 6,000 and is killing an average of 37 people a month. The persistence of the preventable disease has alarmed public health experts who fear that attention and resources have been diverted by newer challenges, including the regional spread of the Zika virus and the political crisis that recently halted Haiti's elections. World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said cholera is now considered “endemic” in Haiti, meaning it's an illness that occurs regularly. Others have noted the cholera bacterium now appears to be firmly established in Haiti's rivers, estuaries and even coastal waters.

People get treatment at Haiti's first permanent cholera center, run by Gheskio Centers, in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti​

‘Extremely difficult to eradicate’

“Once it is established in a country's aquatic reservoir it is extremely difficult to eradicate,” said Afsar Ali, a researcher at the University of Florida who has led studies of cholera in Haiti for years. Dr. Joseph Donald Francois, who coordinates the health ministry's efforts to combat the illness, still believes Haiti, with international help, can eliminate cholera by 2022. But he acknowledged the effort is badly underfinanced.
Only $307 million, or less than 14 percent, has been funded of a $2.2 billion plan announced in 2013 to eradicate cholera from the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic over a decade, according to a November report from the U.N. In the first year of the outbreak, more than 200 international organizations were providing money and expertise to combat the illness in Haiti. Now, there are fewer than a dozen, Francois said.
Some see situation as ‘no longer urgent’

 

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Mass cholera vaccinations in Haiti...

Haiti Vaccinating Nearly 1 Million for Cholera in Storm Zone
November 09, 2016 — Health authorities in Haiti have begun a campaign to vaccinate 800,000 people for cholera in areas hit hardest by Hurricane Matthew.

Ministry of Health nurses are administering the oral medication in the southwestern departments of Sud and Grand' Anse. There have been around 3,500 suspected cases of the water-borne illness since the hurricane. The vaccine provides about six months of protection.

A father comforts his daughter as she receives treatment for cholera alongside another little girl, on the floor of a small and overwhelmed health clinic in Anse d'Hainault, southwestern Haiti​

The Pan American Health Organization said Wednesday that international organizations are also assisting with the distribution of clean water, sanitation and treatment for an illness that has killed 10,000 in Haiti since October 2010.

Hurricane Matthew has created ideal conditions for the spread of cholera by destroying water supplies and forcing people who lost homes to squeeze into overcrowded shelters. The government says the storm killed 546 people.

Haiti Vaccinating Nearly 1 Million for Cholera in Storm Zone

See also:

In Haiti, Hopes Dim for Missing Victims of Hurricane Matthew
October 21, 2016 — Nobody has seen or heard from Edma Desravine, a 71-year-old grandfather known for his sly sense of humor and bad luck at cock fights, in the roughly 2 weeks since Hurricane Matthew sent floodwaters and debris crashing into his riverside shantytown.

Family and neighbors near the hard-luck town of Port-a-Piment have dug by hand through wreckage and scoured the riverbanks, but to no avail. “It pains me that I can't say goodbye properly,” said Bernadette Desravine, holding her father's ID card and mud-smeared baseball cap. “But I believe I will see him again in heaven.” Hopes have dimmed for Haitians combing the countryside for missing relatives in the Caribbean nation's hardest-hit zone, the remote and long-ignored southwestern tip. The central government says the official toll stands at 546 dead and 128 missing, but many believe the figures could be higher and some rugged areas still have not been fully assessed.

Bertha Mesilier leans against a wall, in the room she shared with her now-missing husband Edma Desravine, who was last seen seeking refuge from Hurricane Matthew, in Port-a-Piment, a district of Les Cayes, Haiti​

While relief can often be slow and chaotic in disasters all around the world, the Western Hemisphere's poorest and least developed country is perennially beset by natural catastrophes and particularly ill-equipped to handle them. In crucial first days, assistance is often too little and too late, stalled by impassable roads, collapsed bridges and a lack of resources and infrastructure. Communications were wiped out by Matthew in large parts of the southwest, with no emergency backup.

Neighbors sit on a stoop and listen as Bernadette Desravine (L) talks to a reporter about her missing father, Edma Desravine, who was last seen seeking refuge from the heavy rainfall and winds brought by Hurricane Matthew, in Port-a-Piment, a district of Les Cayes, Haiti​

With Haiti's interim government taking the lead in directing relief efforts, there were no boats reaching cut-off coastal towns for days, dive crews or teams with trained search dogs looking for the missing and the dead. The U.N. stabilization mission, the U.S. government's disaster assistance response team and numerous NGOs all told The Associated Press they never received any specific request from Haiti to help locate the missing amid the ongoing effort to ferry emergency food, water and medical supplies.

Conflicting reports

 

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Ban Ki-moon apologizes for first time over Haiti cholera outbreak...

Haiti cholera: UN chief apologises for first time over outbreak
Thu, 01 Dec 2016 - Ban Ki-moon says he is "profoundly sorry" for the UN's role in a deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti.

Haiti was cholera-free until it was brought to the country by Nepalese peacekeepers in 2010. Since then the acute bacterial disease has killed around 10,000 people. Mr Ban, however, only said he was sorry for the UN's failure to prevent the spread of cholera and not for bringing it to the Caribbean nation. "On behalf of the United Nations, I want to say very clearly we apologise to the Haitian people," Mr Ban said. "We simply did not do enough with regard to the cholera outbreak and its spread in Haiti. We are profoundly sorry for our role."

Two Haitian girls are treated for cholera​

The cholera outbreak has been blamed on leaking sewage pipes at a UN base, as Haiti was already reeling from the devastating earthquake of 2010. The UN had long denied involvement, only acknowledging it played a role in August this year.

But the UN does not accept legal responsibility and says it is protected by diplomatic immunity from claims for compensation from victims' families. Cholera causes diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and muscle cramps. Once it enters the water supply it is difficult to stop - especially in a country like Haiti which has almost no effective sewage disposal systems.

Haiti cholera: UN chief apologises for first time over outbreak - BBC News

 

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Ugh, nasty filthy job...

Dirty job shows why cholera still kills in Haiti
Dec 28,`16 -- The men strip off their clothes, wrap themselves in rags and plug their nostrils with tobacco to hide the stench. They squeeze into a cramped outhouse with a reeking pit to scoop buckets of human excrement with their bare hands.

It's just another night's work for this four-man team of "bayakou" - the Haitian waste cleaners who take to the streets at night doing a miserable, indispensable job that creates such social scorn that few admit they do it at all. "The hardest part is going into the pit. You have to get used to it," says crew boss Auguste Augustin as his shoeless team worked by candlelight, filling sacks with human waste to be loaded into a wheelbarrow and dumped before sunrise.

The pit latrine cleaners form the lowest ranks of a primitive sanitation system that is largely responsible for the fierce persistence of cholera in this country since it was introduced to the country's largest river in October 2010 by sewage from a base of U.N. peacekeepers. Haiti still relies mostly on crude methods of waste disposal that have crippled its ability to combat a water-borne illness that can cause diarrhea so severe that victims can die of dehydration in hours if they don't get treatment. It has sickened roughly 800,000 people and killed at least 9,500.

Dieusel Gerlin, a"bayakou", or waste cleaner, uses candles for illumination before descending into the pit of an outhouse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Bayakou strip off their clothes, wrap themselves in rags and plug their nostrils with tobacco to hide the stench, before they squeeze themselves into the latrine pit to scoop buckets of human excrement with their bare hands. The Bayakou form the lowest ranks of a primitive sanitation system largely responsible for the fierce persistence of cholera in this country since it was introduced to the country’s largest river in October 2010 by sewage from a base of United Nations peacekeepers.​

The U.N., which this month acknowledged not doing enough to help the country fight cholera while stopping short of an admission of responsibility for introducing it, has announced a new fundraising plan to battle the easily treatable disease. It seeks to raise $400 million from U.N. member states, with the first $200 million dedicated in large part to treating patients with care like oral rehydration fluids, while promoting improvements in hygiene by distributing supplies like chlorine and soap. Improving water, sanitation and health systems are also stated goals of this first phase.

But critics say the U.N. has failed to consistently focus on the long-term problem - how Haitians dispose of their waste and get their water. What's needed, critics say, are sustained investments in infrastructure that would prevent fecal matter from contaminating water supplies and continuing the cycle of disease. "The $200 million for cholera control is desperately needed to stop deaths from cholera, and must be followed by robust efforts to put in the clean water and sanitation that will fully eliminate the disease," said Beatrice Lindstrom, a lawyer with the nonprofit Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

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