Dr. Paul Farmer and Partners in Health are raising an alarm concerning a likely surge in Haiti’s recent cholera epidemic during Haiti’s rainy season, which begins in April. Children are among those most likely to die if sickened by waterborne cholera bacteria. As of February 2012 Haiti’s cholera epidemic has killed 7,000 people and left half-a-million other people ill. In 2011, according to PIH, cholera cases nearly tripled during the rainy season. PIH does not believe this scenario must necessarily happen again.
With clean water and modern sewage treatment systems currently unavailable in areas with the most vulnerable people, PIH argues that by supporting immunization programs under the Haitian Ministry of Health and immediately rolling out an oral vaccine we can save lives and mitigate suffering.
Visit PIH’s website for details: http://www.pih.org/news/entry/spring-rains-will-flood-haiti-with-cholera/