U.N., Haiti launch $145 million appeal to help address spreading cholera, rising hunger
Cholera is continuing to spread across Haiti, where roads controlled by gangs continue to make providing assistance costly and dangerous.
To fund a response to the spread of the disease, the government of Haiti and the United Nations have launched an appeal for $145.6 million to support the country’s emergency response to provide life-saving assistance to 1.4 million people living in the worst affected areas.
As of Monday, Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population reported 8,708 suspected cases of cholera, a waterborne-disease that causes watery diarrhea and vomiting, and can lead to death. Authorities have so far confirmed 802 cases and reported 161 deaths across Haiti. The average age of those being hospitalized is 21, according to the ministry.
Jeanty Fils Exalus, a spokesperson for the health ministry, said one of the challenges Haiti faces is that a lot of people refuse to accept they have been infected.
“A lot of people say it’s gas or hunger to explain their symptoms,” he said during a live radio interview Monday. “They don’t go to the hospital and only go when they feel they can no longer manage.... and when they arrive their case is really serious.”
With the World Health Organization reporting that 500,000 Haitians are at risk of contracting cholera, U.N. officials are worried that the outbreak could reach the level of the last outbreak, in 2010, which led to nearly 10,000 deaths and over 800,000 cases. The outbreak occurred after cholera was introduced by U.N. peacekeepers, 10 months after the country’s devastating earthquake.
Haiti health officials and the U.N. thought the country was on the road to eradicating the disease after three and a half years without a confirmed case. But on Oct. 2, Haitian health officials reported two cases in the Cité Soleil slum. An armed conflict between warring gangs in the slum’s Brooklyn neighborhood in July left more than 470 people dead, wounded or missing, according to the U.N. The fighting also hampered access to potable water and garbage pickup, leaving the population vulnerable to waterborne diseases.
The problem grew worse when a gang attacked the country’s main fuel terminal in mid-September, which blocked the flow of diesel, gas and propane for two months and forced water production companies to temporarily shut down operations.
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The U.N. said its aid workers and partners need the funding to support national authorities in their efforts to contain the spread of cholera, while addressing urgent hunger, nutrition and security needs in the most affected areas.
Ulrika Richardson, Haiti’s U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator, said while national institutions have put together a strategy to respond to the outbreak with support from the international humanitarian communities, the surge in cases in recent weeks and the rapid spread of cholera in Haiti “is worrying.”
In less than a month, the number of suspected cases has gone from 1,752 to 8,708.
The epidemic is just one more crisis in an already alarming situation in Haiti, where an increase in kidnappings and violence by armed gangs has plunged the country into one of its worst security, humanitarian and political crises in decades.
The latest analysis by the United Nations shows that 4.7 million people, nearly half the population, do not know where their next meal is coming from. The figures include 19,000 people who for the first time in recent Haiti history are facing catastrophic levels of hunger.
In addition, at least 200,000 more children have been pushed into crisis levels of hunger since March, the charity Save the Children said in a separate media release.
“The situation in Haiti is rapidly deteriorating,” said Chantal-Sylvie Imbeault, Save the Children’s country director in Haiti. “Millions of children are going to bed hungry every night, and for the first time ever, we’re seeing children face famine-like conditions.”
Imbeault said the charity’s teams are already seeing the devastating toll the hunger crisis and cholera outbreak are having on children.
“We urge the international community to continue providing support to fully address the country’s humanitarian needs and ensure the children can fight cholera and hunger,” she said.
While fuel has started to flow again after two months, life remains chaotic and unpredictable. Schools are still not fully open, a new wave of kidnappings is being reported, and the main roads linking the capital to the rest of the country remain under the control and influence of heavily armed gangs.
On Monday, a convoy made up of vehicles from the U.S. Embassy, the Haiti National Police and private businesses was attacked by armed individuals who fired shots at them. A U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed the attack but said no embassy personnel were injured. However, a Haitian commercial driver accompanying the convoy suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
