Cholera in Haiti: still an emergency | Sean Casey

Success in the fight against the cholera epidemic in Haiti

is fragile. If funding from international donors is cut and services close rates, infection and death will increase

I await the day when we can all celebrate the defeat of cholera in Haiti. However, one year after the first cases appeared to many in the international community to rush to that conclusion too soon. Thank you to the efforts of NGOs and funding of international donors, such as the Department of Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), mortality rates have decreased significantly since the early days of the cholera epidemic in Haiti.

However, this success is fragile - indeed, since late August and the arrival of the rainy season, the number of cases increased again, especially in southern Haiti International Department of the Corps health (BMI) is the lead agency for cholera response. If NGOs do not have sufficient resources to provide the vital services of cholera prevention and treatment, and support the Haitian government in areas where it is able to provide services, the case will rise and more people will die .

is now one year since the first cases of cholera, and the encouraging statistics have led some donors to declare the emergency phase is over. But it's still an emergency decreased only temporarily. If funding is cut and closed services, increased infection rates and mortality rates were relatively low achieved through the efforts of NGOs will increase rapidly.

cholera develops where water systems are weak and poor sanitation. A story of poverty, natural disasters, negligence, public water and sanitation, and inadequate health infrastructure resources has amplified the impact of cholera in Haiti. An estimated 80% of Haitians have no access to latrines and more than half of the population lacks access to safe drinking water.

health of the U.S. government and the security agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called these conditions, a "perfect storm for a massive outbreak of cholera." On October 14, about a year since the beginning of the epidemic, the Ministry of Health of Haiti 473,649 reported cases of cholera and 6.631 deaths attributed to it in 10 departments. Haiti has one of the worst cholera outbreaks in recent history , and because of this epidemic has followed the 2010 earthquake and decades of political instability, which has limited ability to mount a home-grown. just declare victory over anger, when Haitians have access to toilets and drinking water, the government has the resources and ability to manage anger (and other health problems in Haiti) by himself and confidence in funding from donors and NGO partners is no longer necessary. Until then, donors and governments must recognize that anger is always an emergency and act accordingly. Haiti is like a patient in intensive care - if donors pull the plug now, the patient will not survive on their own

• In my work in Haiti, to direct the operations of the BMI, I see my colleagues to save lives every day. Our job is simple: to help ensure that people have access to safe drinking water to prevent infection, to invest in infrastructure and basic sanitation to help keep the water clean, and when people receive health care we provide and effective. Cholera is not complicated, but it is deadly.
However, reductions in funding for the services of cholera have forced us to close most of our treatment sites across the country. Several other non-governmental organizations that play a crucial role in the cholera response have also been forced to reduce or close their programs, often means that people living in remote areas without access to care. In the Southern Department, where BMI is the management of over 80% of cholera cases, the only NGO to work with us in other ways to meet its processing services in the coming days. Cuts in budget cuts in media coverage, and that means people will die from a disease that is easily preventable and treatable.

While international donors deserve recognition for their efforts so far, do not underestimate the seriousness of the cholera epidemic in Haiti. The international community must accept that cholera will continue to be an emergency in the foreseeable future. Governments and donors must honor the commitments we made to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and after the epidemic began. If we do not, many of them get sick and die a lot of preventable and easily treatable.

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