PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI – Although there are a record number of NGOs on the ground in Haiti addressing the health and safety needs of post-earthquake Haiti, apparently their efforts are ineffective, as a recent report shows the number of Haitians killed from cholera have past 7,000 dead, and confirmed cases of infection are on the rise. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated in a recent report the new cases were found in the west and northern sections of the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
Health officials report that 77 new cases were recorded a day in the month of March and fear the number could increase as Haiti prepares for the annual rainy season.
The UN advises that medical teams have been deployed to stem the spread of cholera that was first detected here last October and is responsible for more than 7,000 deaths so far.
But the UN said that their effectiveness has been hampered in part by little coordination and an absence of salaries paid to people working in cholera treatment centers run by Haitian authorities.
The day-to-day operations of the Haitian government have largely been put on hold after Prime Minister Garry Conille suddenly resigned in February.
The new cholera cases come after a steady decline since June of last year when aid workers saw peaks of more than 1,000 cases on certain days. It is easily treatable if caught in time.
The UN maintains that the deadly disease, previously unknown to Haiti, has surfaced through no one person or organization’s fault. However, Haitians on the ground believe the cholera strain forming the source of the outbreak, whose distinctive DNA traces back to Nepal, was brought to Haiti by infected UN workers. Nepal has battled a cholera epidemic for some time.