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The humanitarian community has mobilised its resources to help the Haitian government respond to an outbreak of cholera in the western region of the small Caribbean country.
Medical supplies are being provided and teams of health workers rushing to the affected area, a senior UN humanitarian official said on Friday.
"The point is that cholera deaths are preventable, and we are doing everything we can to assist the Haitian authorities to prevent further deaths," Catherine Bragg, UN Deputy Emergency Coordinator, said after a visit to Haiti.
Figures provided by the Haitian government indicate that more than 1 500 cases of cholera, with the disease having claimed the lives of 138 people.
Humanitarian agencies already have 300 000 doses of antibiotics in the country ready for distribution, Bragg said, stressing that the spread of cholera can also be curbed by improving the availability of clean water, using soap to wash hands before meals, and improving sanitation.
The cholera epidemic has been reported around Saint-Marc in the Artibonite department, far from the camps hosting hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes following the devastating earthquake on January 12 this year.
Some 10 000 boxes of water purification tablets, 2 500 jerry cans and the same number of buckets and hygiene kits are being distributed in the affected area, the official noted. - BuaNews
