PORT-AU-PRINCE (June 7, 2011) – The populations of Carrefour, Léogâne, Grande-Anse and Artibonite are facing a growing cholera epidemic due to the beginning of the rainy season. CARE is scaling up its activities in camps where we have been providing support in constructing and emptying latrines for the affected population, addressing basic sanitation shortfalls, promoting hygiene practices, ensuring access to safe, chlorinated water, sensitizing communities and training local leaders as well as volunteers in cholera prevention methods.
According to UN figures, most of the Cholera Treatment Centers (CTCs) and Cholera Treatment Units (CTUs) in Port-au-Prince are at full capacity. CTCs and CTUs in the capital are currently treating an estimated 1,300 inpatients. The latest figures released by the Ministry of Health (MSPP) on May 29 report a total of 321,066 cases of cholera and 5,337 deaths in all 10 of Haiti’s departments since the start of the outbreak in October 2010.
“The situation continues to deteriorate”, says Beat Rohr, CARE Haiti Country Director. “We never stopped sensitizing the population about the importance of clean water and the need to wash their hands regularly. But it won’t be enough. CARE strives to work in partnership with other humanitarian organizations, the Haitian Government, and local authorities for a coordinated response to handle the outbreak that tends to worsen during the rainy seasons.”
Starting this week, CARE steps up hygiene promotion sessions in five vulnerable camps at Carrefour that are already witnessing new spikes of cholera. Bars of soap will be distributed among the population along with educational materials encouraging the use of and explaining the importance of hygiene practices. Awareness sessions are lead by 200 Community Volunteers who are trained by the CARE Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) team. Some medical supplies already in stock will also be donated to CTCs and CTUs in Carrefour in partnership with the city hall.
CARE also plans to distribute hygiene kits consisting of buckets, jerry cans, oral rehydration solutions (ORS), aquatabs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wash and laundry soaps, hygiene pads for women and towels to approximately 10,000 people living in five of the most affected camps and neighbouring settlements in Carrefour where CARE has also previously constructed temporary shelters.
Since the beginning of the cholera outbreak last year on October 22, CARE has worked in the Northwest, Artibonite department and the southern department of Grande Anse. CARE has distributed 41,000 hygiene kits, reached 526,000 people with door-to-door sensitization, and supported 22 medical facilities. CARE also helped set up 96 Oral Rehydration Points (ORPs) in remote rural locations. These contain clean drinking water and a stock of ORS which can be handed out as a first relief. CARE is seeking partners with available stocks to support the distribution efforts, as well as actively planning for more cohesive programming to overcome cholera and support local populations with water and sanitation, sensitization and hygiene promotion activities.
As the rainy season will also affect other departments and place more people at risk of a massive epidemic, CARE will be approaching donors to extend financial support to its well-established teams and cholera prevention activities in such vulnerable departments as Artibonite / North West and Grand Anse.
For more information or to arrange interviews with staff in Haiti:
Mildrède Béliard (in Port-au-Prince): +509 3804 0211, [email protected]
Melanie Brooks (in Geneva): +41 79 590 30 47, [email protected]
Brian Feagans (in Atlanta): +1 404-979-9453, [email protected]
About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid agencies. Working side by side with poor people in 72 countries, CARE helps empower communities to address the greatest threats to their survival. Women are at the heart of CARE’s efforts to improve health, education and economic development because experience shows that a woman’s achievements yield dramatic benefits for her entire family. CARE is also committed to providing lifesaving assistance during times of crisis, and helping rebuild safer, stronger communities afterward.