News Information

• NEWS_POSTED_BY: Haiti Place
• NEWS_POSTED_ON: Jun 02, 2015
• Views : 733
• Category : General News
• Description : NPR
  JUNE 02, 2015 5:08 AM ET
• Website : http://www.npr.org/2015/06/02/411406390/haiti-sees-spike-in-cholera-cases-4-years-after-the-outbreak-began

Overview

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  Haiti has been struggling to control a cholera epidemic that began after the 2010 earthquake. Renee Montagne talks to Dr. Louise Ivers, the senior health adviser for Partners in Health.
  
  Transcript
  
  RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
  
  It is the rainy season in Haiti. That's making it even harder for aid workers trying to contain a 4-and-a-half-year-old cholera outbreak that followed the massive earthquake in 2010. Recently, there's been a disturbing spike in new cases, from about a thousand a month to a thousand a week. To find out more, we reached Dr. Louise Ivers. She's the senior health advisor for Partners in Health. Thank you for joining us.
  
  DR. LOUISE IVERS: You're welcome. It's nice to be here.
  
  MONTAGNE: Cholera arrived in Haiti in October of 2010, and, at that point, aid poured in. So why is it not under control at this point in time?
  
  IVERS: Well, I think one of the reasons why it's not in control yet is really quite fundamental. One of the things you need to control cholera is that you have to have good water systems and good sanitation systems. And although there has been some progress in that regard in Haiti over the last four and a half years, there really has not been the kind of transformative change that needs to happen. Most poor people living in the countryside or living in the urban slums, they don't have a place to go to the toilet and that just leads to cases of diarrheal disease, and especially cholera now that cholera is there in the country.
  
  MONTAGNE: From what you say, then it seems like cholera would never be defeated.
  
  IVERS: Well, it certainly can be defeated. Actually it's very simple. We know exactly what to do. Cholera is transmitted from contaminated water, contaminated food. And it's basically a question of keeping the poop separate from the water and the food. Unfortunately though, when you don't have good access to latrines and you don't have access to soap - and it's hard for a lot of people to understand or even believe, but so many Haitians are so poor that they're literally choosing between buying soap one day or buying food for their family or for their children.
  
  MONTAGNE: Why didn't all the money that poured in after the earthquake of 2010 go towards building toilets?
  
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