Partners In Health's sister organization Zanmi Lasante (ZL) and its partners are currently responding to an outbreak of cholera in the area surrounding the lower Artibonite region of Haiti. This is the first major outbreak of cholera in Haiti in 50 years.
Starting on the evening of Tuesday, October 19, patients suffering from acute watery diarrhea began arriving at l'Hôpital Saint Nicolas in St. Marc, which PIH operates in partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health. By Thursday evening the hospital in St. Marc was overflowing with over 500 patients, of whom 12 had died. Another 437 patients were taken in between 6:00 Thursday evening and 5:00 Friday morning. Other hospitals in the Lower Artibonite and Central Department - including PIH facilities in Petite Riviere, Mirebalais, and Verrettes - also reported large numbers of patients with similar symptoms and high mortality rates.
Our immediate response includes:
Treatment - ZL dispatched reinforcements from our teams in Port-au-Prince and central Haiti for both the clinical treatment and community-based case finding of suspected cholera cases. And two branches of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF-Spain and MSF-Belgium) are working with ZL and Ministry of Health staff in St. Marc and Petite Riviere. They are working to establish systems to separate cholera cases from non-cholera cases in order to contain the spread of infection and give appropriate treatment.
Prevention - Community health workers are not only involved in active case finding, but also in the prevention of the spread of acute diarrheal diseases. They are fanning out throughout the area to distribute rehydration salts and educational messages about the need to drink only clean or purified water and the importance of frequent hand washing - the two keys to preventing further spread of the disease.
Long-term solutions - PIH has a long-term commitment to the provision of water security as a basic human right. To that end, we will be continuing community-based water projects with partners such as Operation Blessing and charity:water. In addition, we will continue to advocate for money pledged for the reconstruction of Haiti be used to strengthen the public infrastructure of the country, including prioritizing the development of a reliable and safe public water supply to provide real water security as a basic right for the people of Haiti.
Click here for my full description of PIH's response and the underlying causes of this crisis.
We will continue to keep you abreast as further information becomes available, and we learn more from our Zanmi Lasante colleagues about how we can best support them.
In solidarity,
Joia Mukherjee
Chief Medical Officer
Partners In Health
888 Commonwealth Ave, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02215
