Young girl drinking dirty water

As of November 30, 2011, Ministry of Health officials in Haiti reported that nationally cholera has killed 6,942 people in Haiti since the outbreak began in mid-October of 2010.* Nearly 515,700 Haitians have been infected during the epidemic. In the Compassion programs, 236 Compassion-assisted children were infected during the early stages of the epidemic and 15 died from the disease. Two Compassion development center workers also died after being infected.

However, infections among Compassion-assisted children were stabilized through early detection and aggressive treatments, and through the distribution of individual family water filters.

Cholera is a water- and food-borne illness that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. For those who are already undernourished, the disease can lead to death in a matter of hours. But up to 80 percent of cases can be cured if caught early enough.

Providing safe water and sanitation is crucial to reducing cholera’s impact. Upon initial reports of the outbreak, Compassion’s Haiti staff immediately distributed hand sanitizer, soap, water purification tablets and chlorine, oral rehydration salt, education materials and other needed supplies to 30 of the 39 church partners in the affected areas.

But more supplies are needed to protect the children from this disease. Compassion’s long-term strategies include:

• Installing chlorine-making machines in 150 church partner locations to purify water; 50 have already been provided through earthquake relief.
• Hiring a health coordinator for eight months to oversee treatment and prevention efforts.
• Retaining a psychologist for three months to help children who are suffering from the constant threat of disaster.
• Engaging 17 local trainers to teach clusters of health workers in promoting awareness, proper hygiene, symptom recognition and treatment of cholera.

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*Pan American Health Organization “Health Cluster Bulletin #30 – Cholera and Post-Earthquake Response in Haiti” (November 30, 2011): http://new.paho.org/blogs/haiti/index.php