UN anti-cholera plan in Haiti 'failing'

[longknife]

By Mark Doyle

UN efforts to tackle cholera in Haiti are "almost non-existent", a charity says, as the world body faces court action for inadvertently starting a cholera epidemic in the country.

Late last year, the UN launched a $2.2bn-appeal (£1.5bn) to improve water supplies in Haiti.

But Medecins Sans Frontieres says this has had almost no practical effect.

The UN is accused of negligently allowing peacekeeping soldiers to pollute Haiti's water with cholera.

And I still con't find what happened to all those millions raised to aid them.

 

[waltky]

UN cholera rampant in Haiti...

Deadly health menace seeps into Haiti
Sunday 28th July, 2013 > Cholera is likely to be a public health problem in Haiti for many years to come.

Cholera spreads via contaminated food, water and fecal matter. One of the essential parts of the government's 2.2-billion-dollar National Plan for the Elimination of Cholera in Haiti is financing for sanitation systems nationwide. Cholera was brought to Haiti in October 2010 by soldiers from the United Nations Stabilisation Mission, who were there in the aftermath of a massive earthquake.

The disease quickly spread throughout the country with almost 3,000 people per month presenting themselves at hospitals for treatment. To date, over 600,000 people have been infected and at least 8,190 have died. UNICEF has made some inroads into the problem over the past year with the help of other organisations. The organisation has overseen the creation of fecal treatment centres for the capital region. It hopes to build 22 others.

The waste treatment centres will cost about US$2.5 million dollars apiece and will have the capacity to treat 500 cubic metres of excreta per day, which is the equivalent of what 500,000 people produce. Waste material is recycled, transformed and sent to places in the country where it is used it in agriculture. About half of households in the countryside, and 10 to 20 percent in the cities, lack access to a proper toilet.

Source

 

[waltky]

Wonder if they got any peacekeepers from Nepal there?...

Over 1,600 cholera cases in Iraq in past month: UN
Oct 22, 2015, UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations says over 1,600 cases of cholera have been confirmed in Iraq in the past month and the humanitarian situation in the country is worsening with more than 8.6 million people in need of assistance.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday the main accelerators of the cholera outbreak are broken water supply systems and the lack of sufficient chlorine in the country to provide clean water.

On September 22, there were at least 54 cases. The UN said that according to the World Health Organization and Iraq's Ministry of Health there were over 1,600 cases on October 15, almost 40 percent in Babylon.

The UN said the humanitarian deterioration is a result of conflict, funding shortfalls and diminished ability of people to cope.

Over 1,600 cholera cases in Iraq in past month: UN - Times of India

 

[irosie91]

cholera is endemic thruout the Levant------it is a shit in water illness

 

[irosie91]

UN cholera rampant in Haiti...

Deadly health menace seeps into Haiti
Sunday 28th July, 2013 > Cholera is likely to be a public health problem in Haiti for many years to come.

Cholera spreads via contaminated food, water and fecal matter. One of the essential parts of the government's 2.2-billion-dollar National Plan for the Elimination of Cholera in Haiti is financing for sanitation systems nationwide. Cholera was brought to Haiti in October 2010 by soldiers from the United Nations Stabilisation Mission, who were there in the aftermath of a massive earthquake.

The disease quickly spread throughout the country with almost 3,000 people per month presenting themselves at hospitals for treatment. To date, over 600,000 people have been infected and at least 8,190 have died. UNICEF has made some inroads into the problem over the past year with the help of other organisations. The organisation has overseen the creation of fecal treatment centres for the capital region. It hopes to build 22 others.

The waste treatment centres will cost about US$2.5 million dollars apiece and will have the capacity to treat 500 cubic metres of excreta per day, which is the equivalent of what 500,000 people produce. Waste material is recycled, transformed and sent to places in the country where it is used it in agriculture. About half of households in the countryside, and 10 to 20 percent in the cities, lack access to a proper toilet.

Source

I am intrigued Has the vibrio been traced to any specific nation?. 8000 people dead seems
excessive-----the illness is treatable with anti biotics and LOTS OF FLUIDS. BTW-----lots of the
Syrian refugees are likely carriers --------refugee camps can become a problem Iraq, specifically
gets outbreaks periodically

 

[waltky]

Took `em long enough...

United Nations admits to role in Haiti cholera epidemic
Aug. 18, 2016 -- U.N. officials acknowledge for the first time the role peacekeepers played in a 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti that left some 10,000 people dead.

The Office of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in the past year, "the U.N. has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera." U.N. officials for years have refused to acknowledge any role in the cholera outbreak that also sickened hundreds of thousands. Many suspected peacekeeping troops from Nepal brought the disease with them to Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake. A cholera outbreak was underway in Nepal at the time.

The deputy spokesman for the secretary-general, Farhan Haq, told The New York Times the United Nations will draft a new response within two months and present it "once it has been fully elaborated, agreed with the Haitian authorities and discussed with member states." "This is a major victory for the thousands of Haitians who have been marching for justice, writing to the U.N. and bringing the U.N. to court," said Mario Joseph, a Haitian human rights lawyer representing victims of the epidemic.

The secretary-general stopped short of saying the United Nations caused the outbreak. The organization continues to hold the position it is immune from legal action as a result of the outbreak.

United Nations admits to role in Haiti cholera epidemic

 

[longknife]

Excuse me, but didn't the Clinton Foundation have something to do with improving the situation of the Haitian people?

 

[waltky]

Wouldn't put it past the UN to put the Clinton's in charge o' fund raisin'...

Fighting Haiti's cholera outbreak requires more funds: UN
December 30, 2016 - The cholera outbreak that hit Haiti after Hurricane Matthew slammed the island has been contained but persists due to lack of funding, according to the United Nations.

An epidemic of the waterborne disease -- which spread after a massive earthquake shook the nation in 2010 -- saw a resurgence after Matthew devastated the country in early October. The number of recorded cholera cases more than doubled in Haiti between September and October. Almost half of the patients were in the two southern departments hardest hit by the hurricane -- areas that until now were not major focal points of the fight against cholera.

Suspected cases of the disease fell 25 percent -- from 2,400 to 1,800 -- between October to November, according to the latest report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Haiti. The UN says the situation has improved thanks to a three-fold increase in the deployment of emergency teams, the delivery of drinking water aid and a vaccination campaign. But funding is critical to support the humanitarian needs of the poorest country in the Americas, said Mourad Wahba, the deputy special representative for the UN's stabilization mission in Haiti.

A cholera epidemic which spread after a massive earthquake shook Haiti in 2010, saw a resurgence after Hurricane Matthew devastated the country in early October​

No funds have been set aside yet beyond the first quarter of 2017, which OCHA said could lead to a heightened risk of hospital mortality if none are ultimately allocated. "The rainy season will return and inevitably there will be an increase in the number of cholera cases," said Wahba. "I'm optimistic, but it all depends on the funding."

Cholera struck nearly 40,000 patients between January and November, killing 420 of them. On a global scale, Haiti's cholera epidemic is the most vicious in recent history. The disease causes acute diarrhea and is transmitted through contaminated drinking water -- a major challenge in a country with poor sanitary conditions. According to numerous independent experts, cholera was introduced to Haiti by infected Nepalese UN peacekeepers sent to the Caribbean country following the earthquake. Since October 2010, the epidemic has killed more than 9,400 Haitians and infected more than 800,000 people.

Fighting Haiti's cholera outbreak requires more funds: UN