Haiti reporting new cases of cholera

UNITED NATIONS, CMC – Nearly 15 years after Haiti experienced a cholera outbreak that infected over 820,000 people, killing 10,000 others, the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country is reporting new cholera cases.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCCA) says it is concerned about cholera, with new suspected cases being reported daily.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 900 suspected cases and four confirmed cases have been recorded nationwide, said Farhan Haq, the Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

He said in Cité Soleil, more than 100 suspected cases have been reported in the past three weeks and that the deteriorating security situation hinders access for surveillance teams and response efforts, raising concerns about undetected community transmission.

Haq said the government in Haiti and the World Health Organization (WHO) are jointly responding to the outbreak by providing medicine and medical supplies and setting up rehydration and chlorination points.

“Additionally, just less than 30 per cent of health facilities with beds across the country – and just over 40 per cent in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area – are fully operational,”  he added.

The new cholera outbreak was initially reported in October 2022 after more than three years without reported cases, but two confirmed cases of Vibrio cholerae O1 were reported in the greater Port-au-Prince area on October 2, 2022.

Cholera outbreak responses require a multipronged, multisectoral approach including surveillance, case management, access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, targeted oral cholera vaccine (OCV) campaigns, risk communication, and community engagement.

The cholera outbreak in 2010 was described as the worst in recent history.