UN: Cholera has become national security issue in Haiti (Roundup)

Nov 15, 2010, 19:06 GMT

New York/Port-au-Prince - The United Nations said Monday that cholera has become a national security issue in Haiti as the epidemic has spread in the capital Port-au-Prince, impacting employees in government ministries.

More than 900 Haitians have died from cholera and the number of cases is expected to significantly climb higher, said Nigel Fisher, an official at the UN mission in Haiti.

'The number of cases has continued to expand rapidly as foreseen,' Fisher said via videoconference with reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

'It is now an issue of national security as we have seen demonstrations starting already against cholera treatment centres,' he said, referring to protests by people who feared that a cholera centre would be threat to their health.

'The communication strategy is broadening, not just from information about how people can protect themselves through better hygiene,' Fisher said. 'So having a cholera treatment centre in your neighbourhood is to your advantage and not a threat to your health.'

Fisher said the prediction from health experts and epidemiologists is that cholera will continue to spread and the Haitian government and international community in the country have emphasized programmes on educating the population so that they have access to early treatment.

Fisher said cholera cases have been found in the health ministry and in hospitals.

He said the Haitian government is now dealing with new issues such as the management of people killed by cholera, the transportation of their bodies and of moving sick people to sites for treatment. Fisher warned also that the health problems deriving from cholera may be used as an issue during the presidential campaign now underway in Haiti.

Port-au-Prince has asked mayors in the capital and provinces to learn how to handle, transport and bury bodies.

Fisher said the government held a six-hour discussion Sunday, which aimed at educating the population about ways to protect themselves against cholera, including hand washing and chlorinating drinking water. He said radio, television and messaging on cell phones have been used to transmit health protective measures to the population.

The government said Sunday more than 15,000 people have been infected since the epidemic's outbreak in late October, some 10 months after a devastating earthquake killed some 230,000 people. It said Haitians are now threatened by another potential catastrophe.

According to UN estimates, up to 200,000 people could fall ill with cholera. The world body on Friday applied for another 163 million dollars in donor aid.

The first outbreak of the disease, which is contracted through contaminated water and causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, was reported in the lower Artibonite region, north of capital Port-au- Prince, on October 22.

In the capital, some 1.5 million homeless people live among rubble in tents, in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, which facilitate the spread of the disease.

Read more about Haiti Health