News Information

• NEWS_POSTED_BY: Haiti NGOs
• NEWS_POSTED_ON: Jun 02, 2015
• Views : 218
• Category : Haiti News
• Description : BY ANASTASIA MOLONEY
  Health | Fri May 29, 2015 1:03pm EDT
• Location : Bogota - Bogotá, Colombia
• Website : http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/29/us-haiti-cholera-idUSKBN0OE26K20150529

Overview

• BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of Haitians infected by cholera has risen more than 300 percent in the past year as early rains, poor sanitation, and a lack of funding means the impoverished Caribbean nation struggles to stem the disease, the United Nations said.
  
  From January to April this year, 14,226 Haitians were infected with cholera, a 306 percent increase from the same period last year, with the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince hardest hit.
  
  "An upsurge in the last quarter of 2014 continues to affect Port-au-Prince's metropolitan area, illustrating the shift of the epidemic from rural to urban areas," said the latest U.N. humanitarian agency (OCHA) report on Haiti.
  
  "This raises concerns with regards to the upcoming rainy season, when cholera in Haiti traditionally expands."
  
  Cholera, a water-borne disease, has killed nearly 9,000 Haitians and infected 738,000 since the outbreak began in the aftermath of a devastating 2010 earthquake.
  
  Infection is caused by drinking and using contaminated water, triggering diarrhea and vomiting that often brings on severe dehydration, which if not treated quickly can be fatal.
  
  Haiti leads the world in suspected cholera cases. So far this year, at least 121 Haitians have died from cholera, according to OCHA.
  
  Read more here >>