News Information

• NEWS_POSTED_BY: Haiti Place
• NEWS_POSTED_ON: Aug 21, 2015
• Views : 594
• Category : General News
• Description : CNN
  
  U.N. blamed for Haitian cholera outbreak
  
  By Martin O'Malley
  Updated 1345 GMT (2045 HKT) August 17, 2015
  
  Editor's Note: Martin O'Malley, former governor of Maryland, is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
• Location : United States
• Website : http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/17/opinions/omalley-haiti-cholera-un/index.html

Overview

• (CNN) There is a humanitarian crisis happening in our own hemisphere, but it's not likely you've heard of it. Thousands have died, threatening the economic and social stability of an entire country. And most tragic of all, it was inadvertently caused by a critically important international organization, which has not yet taken full responsibility for its actions.
  
  
  I am speaking of the cholera outbreak in Haiti.
  
  It's hard to imagine a country enduring more hardship than Haiti has in the last five years. It was already the poorest country in our hemisphere when a massive earthquake leveled its capital in 2010, killing more than 200,000 people. Shortly after, cholera mysteriously appeared and produced a devastating epidemic. It has now infected upward of 700,000 people, and has claimed the lives of nearly 10,000.
  
  The outbreak perplexed public health experts. Cholera had not been documented in Haiti in 100 years. Then The Associated Press reported that U.N. peacekeeping troops from Nepal carried strains of the disease with them, contaminating a large portion of Haiti's drinking water. The United Nations initially denied any role in the outbreak, and has refused to redress complaints, claiming immunity under a 1946 convention. In January, a U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by human rights groups seeking compensation for Haitian victims.
  
  Read more here >>