The article “Cholera Moves Into the Beleaguered Haitian Capital” by Randal C. Archibold written on November 9, 2010 in the New York Times looks at the the current issue of cholera facing Haiti. Not even a year after Haiti was struck with a devastating earthquake, the developing country is faced with yet another challenge, cholera. Cholera is an infection in the small intestine that is caused by bacterium found in contaminated drinking water or food. Treatment for cholera is simple, rehydration and in really severe cases antibiotics. Cholera is spreading rapidly throughout Haiti and recently made its way into the overcrowded capital, Port-Au-Prince. The article in the New York times can be found here http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/world/americas/10haiti.html?_r=1
The one million people who were displaced by the earthquake in January have been living in unsanitary camps which are the perfect breeding ground for an epidemic like cholera. As Jon Kim Andrus said “Cholera is a complex public health emergency under any circumstances. In Haiti, the hemisphere’s poorest country, the problem is even more complex.” Cholera is a serious problem that needs to be taken seriously anywhere but in such a poor country like Haiti, it needs to be a top priority. Cholera can spread rapidly to many people. Those displaced people from the earthquake are living in tightly packed tent cities with no real housing. People have limited access to clean drinking water, and often use the same source for bathing and drinking. Because of this contamination can easily occur.
Currently Haiti has 9,100 reported cases of Cholera, and at least 583 people have died because of Cholera. Hospitals and clinics are being overwhelmed with patients and the fear of spread is on every ones mind. Even though cholera is easily treated, it can come on suddenly and not leave enough time to get the proper medical aid.
It just seems like it is one thing after another for Haiti. The already struggling country can't seem to get a break. It makes sense that Haiti would have to deal with cholera because of how horrible living conditions are. As we talked about in class how things like poor population health, contamination of water supplies and food sources, lack of public health programs and environmental changes can contribute to the spread of epidemics. All of these helped contribute to the spread of cholera in Haiti. Because of the earthquake and hurricanes the Haitian people are living in slums without proper health care which the country didn't have much of pre-earthquake.
The question isn't really why Haiti has cholera, that is an easy one to answer, but the real question is what needs to be done to stop it's spread. Haiti can't really handle an epidemic right now with trying to rebuild. Cholera needs to be stopped as soon as possible because in a country like Haiti, people will die even though it can be easily treated.
I liked this article because of the way it talked about Haiti, and Haiti is very close to my heart since my visit in 2008. I think that this article spoke of the need in Haiti right now and its urgency. I also liked his honesty in how bad things are there right now, the author didn't make it seem better than it really is. I found this article to give a good overview of cholera in Haiti and how it has made its way into the capital of Port-Au-Prince.
Abby I liked your Post it was very well written. I particularly like how you related the activity we did in class about Cholera. It is sad that Haiti had had to go through so much adversity over the past year.
ReplyDeleteAbby, I found your post to be very interesting and I also liked how you were able to relate it to what we learned in class. It is nice that you were able to find an article about Haiti because you have a personal connection with the country, and you konw first hand what it is like there.
ReplyDeleteAbby, I think you did a great job with your post. I also like how you were able to find an article and relate it back to class. I can tell you really took the time to right this because it is very well written. I also like how you wrote about a topic that you know a lot of information about.
ReplyDeleteAbby, I really liked your post. I especially like the paragraph, "The question isn't really why Haiti has cholera...it can be easily treated." This really points out the real problem here. That really highlights the problem that, although cholera is not necessarily difficult to treat, it can easily become disasterous, particularly in poverty-stricken countries like Haiti. This is something that we sometimes forget to realize.
ReplyDeleteI found your post very informative not only about Cholera but the situation in Haiti in general. It's sad that they did not have proper health care even before the earthquake and now after the earthquake it'll be even harder to divert money from the relief fund to better health care, especially in the wake of the spread of cholera. Hopefully the money that was pledged to Haiti will be given to them soon.
ReplyDeleteAbby, this post was very interesting-- it's neat because we are learning about it right now. It's terrible what is happening in Haiti especially when Cholera can be cured by something as simple as clean water, something we take for granted every day. Awsome post.
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