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UN Urges Halt to Haiti Violence as Cholera Response Suffers

   VOA News 17 November 2010
   A  boy  suffering  cholera  symptoms receives treatment at the Doctors
   Without  Borders  temporary hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 16 Nov.
   2010.

Photo: AP

   A  boy  suffering  cholera  symptoms receives treatment at the Doctors
   Without  Borders  temporary hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 16 Nov.
   2010.

   Humanitarian  officials  in  Haiti are calling for an immediate end to
   violent  demonstrations  in the country, saying they are hampering the
   response to Haiti's cholera epidemic.
   [1]United  Nations humanitarian coordinator Nigel Fisher called on all
   those  involved  in the demonstrations to stop immediately so national
   and international partners can continue to save lives.
   Violent  protests  erupted  Monday, with at least two people killed in
   clashes between demonstrators and U.N. troops.  Angry protesters have
   accused  U.N.  peacekeepers  from  Nepal  of  bringing  the waterborne
   disease to their Caribbean nation.
   1,000 deaths
   Health officials said Tuesday the death toll from the cholera epidemic
   has  reached 1,034 as of Sunday, and more than 16,700 people have been
   hospitalized since the outbreak was first reported late last month.
   Fisher  said  Monday  that  cholera has been detected in every Haitian
   province.  He said Haiti never has had a cholera outbreak before, and
   that the [2]U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified
   the strain as one that has its origins in South Asia.  But he said it
   is nearly impossible to identify a precise source.
   The  U.N.  is  calling  for  $164 million from international donors to
   support the Haitian government in confronting the cholera epidemic.
   Dominican Republic reports cases 
   Meanwhile,  health  officials  in the Dominican Republic say they have
   detected  the  first  case  of  cholera in the country that shares the
   island of Hispaniola with Haiti.  Officials say the case was found in
   a Haitian man who is receiving treatment.
   Dr.  Jon  Andrus,  deputy  director  of  the  [3]Pan  American  Health
   Organization,  part  of  the  U.N.'s  World  Health Organization, said
   Tuesday  that  an  outbreak  in the Dominican Republic would not be as
   severe as the outbreak in Haiti, because sanitary conditions there are
   not as bad as they are in Haiti.
   Health  workers  fear  an explosion of the disease in Haiti's capital,
   Port-au-Prince, where hundreds of thousands of people have been living
   in  crowded  and  unsanitary  tent cities since the January earthquake
   that devastated the country.
   Expected to last years
   The  [4]World  Health  Organization  says the bacteria that causes the
   disease will be in Haiti for years.
   Cholera  is  spread  through  fecal-contaminated  food and water.  It
   causes   vomiting  and  diarrhea,  and  can  quickly  lead  to  severe
   dehydration  and  death.   Hospitals  and  clinics  in  Haiti are now
   struggling to treat a growing number of people suffering from diarrhea
   and dehydration.

References

   1. http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/minustah/
   2. http://www.cdc.gov/
   3. http://www.paho.org/
   4. http://www.who.org/

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