United Nations agencies are coming under pressure to leave Haiti, as crowds protesting their presence spread to the capital, Port-au-Prince, Thursday 19 November. The rock-throwing, tire-burning crowds also appear to be protesting what they see as government inaction. Cholera has now killed some 1,100 people and spread throughout most of the country. Rumours have also spread, that a UN team from Nepal brought the disease, which the UN denies. More than 18,000 people have been hospitalized with the disease and, according to CNN, the 4 percent hospital death rate is far higher than is expected in developed countries. The true numbers are likely far higher, but better data collection is needed to determine the extent of the outbreak, Nigel Fisher, the United Nations co-ordinator of humanitarian affairs in Haiti, told Canada’s CBC.
The 1.3 million people displaced by January’s massive earthquake in Haiti are bracing for the arrival of tropical storm Tomas, which is heading for the Caribbean island and is gathering strength. People living in tents since their houses were destroyed by the earthquake are hoping that the storm will give the capital Port-au-Prince a miss, but weather experts are saying the deforested half-island is prone to flooding and mudslides.
Health experts worry that the country’s poor sanitation system, also largely destroyed by the earthquake, will exacerbate water-borne diseases, especially the cholera outbreak that has killed more than 440 people, 105 in the past 6 days. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed earlier that the cholera strain afflicting Haiti was of South Asian origin, fuelling rumours that the source was a Nepalese army base in Haiti.
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Source: Al-Jazeera
Health authorities in Haiti 24 October confirmed five new cases of cholera in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, bringing to more than 3,000 the number of infected people. More than 250 people have died of the disease since it was first recorded one week ago. The five new cases were infected in the Artibonite region north of the capital, where the outbreak was first registered.
Health authorities are racing to set up treatment centres in order to stem the epidemic, and 12 centres have been set up in Port-au-Prince. “We have registered a diminishing in numbers of deaths and of hospitalized people in the most critical areas,” Gabriel Thimote, director-general of Haiti’s Public Health Ministry, told a news conference 24 October. “The tendency is that it is stabilizing, without being able to say that we have reached a peak.”
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At least 138 people have died and more than 1,500 are seriously ill following an outbreak of what Haitian health officials say may be cholera, according to reports 22 October. The victims are all from the Artibonite region north of the capital Port-au-Prince, and died of acute diarrhea and dehydration, symptoms of cholera. Medical investigators from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the source of the outbreak. The government is trucking in clean water to the area.
Cholera is a bacterial disease spread by contaminated water that can cause death by dehydration in as few as four hours. It is entirely treatable by intravenous or oral rehydration.
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An outbreak of cholera in distinct parts of Zimbabwe has left five people dead, reports the local state-run media. 117 new cases were confirmed around the country, according to the Zimbabwe’s Health Secretary, Gerald Gwinji. The dead were from Mashonaland and the Midlands, according to Gwinji. He said they were “religious objectors” who refused to seek medical help.
Zimbabwe’s population suffered the worst epidemic of cholera in over a decade between August 2008 and last June, and an estimated 4,200 people died and over 100,000 became ill, due to the country’s crumbling infrastructure and health services. AFP, The Herald
The United Nations is warning that six million people are without safe water and five million face starvation in Zimbabwe, as the country struggles to move out of the economic crisis that has provoked disease and severe food shortages. In the 12 months from August 2008 to July 2009 cholera took the lives of 4,288 people, with nearly 100,000 people ill from the disease. The figures and comments were given by Agostinho Zacarias, UN Development Programme representative, at a World Humanitarian Day conference in Zimbabwe. AllAfrica, CNN
Photo: IFRC
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Zimbabwe will mark its 100,000th case of cholera this week or next, says the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC. Almost 4,300 people have died of the disease since its outbreak in August 2008.
Morgan Tsvangirai says his party will become part of a unity government when he is sworn in as prime minister of Zimbabwe 10 February, after the Southern African Development Community (SADC) proposed a new timetable. Aid agencies have refused to provide the country with more aid unless a unity government is in place: more than 60,000 people are reported by the WHO to be infected with cholera, and 3,000 people are believed to have died from it. All Africa, BBC, Guardian
The number of people who have died from cholera in Zimbabwe was well over 1,500 by 28 December and the number of cases reported was more than 29,000, World Health Organization (WHO) officials have told CNN. Related: WHO photos, health care and cholera treatment in Zimbabwe
The United Nations has issued its latest figures on cholera in Zimbabwe and they make stark reading: 1,111 deaths and 20,000 suspected cases, with the capital Harare alone having nearly 9,700 suspected cases. CNN
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon led a Security Council meeting on Zimbabwe, the first since July, and said that “We continue to witness a failure of the leadership in Zimbabwe,” as the number of cholera cases listed by the UN rose 25% over the figure a week earlier, and the political iimpasse continued. The BBC reports that “the meeting ended without agreement on a motion to censure Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, which a diplomat present said was due to opposition from South Africa.”
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe thanked outside aid sources for helping with the cholera epidemic in his country, which he now says is “stopped,” with more than 800 people having died from the disease. The United Nations disagrees, saying the number of sick and dying is rising, and it called 10 December for a campaign to raise $6 million in emergency funds to fight the epidemic. All Africa, PlusNews Global (Aids and HIV news) Reuters
Zimbabwe has appealed for aid, with the government acknowledging that the cholera outbreak has become an emergency. Some 11,000 have fallen sick, more than 560 have died and all but one province are showing the epidemic is increasing. CNN
The health situation in Zimbabwe appears to be worsening, despite government assurances it is under control, with the United Nations saying 360 people have died in two months from cholera. South Africa’s health minister, calling it a humanitarian crisis says “”Under no conditions would we want to stop entry of any person who is ill crossing from Zimbabwe to South Africa.” BBC
