Sunday, October 31, 2010

Cholera in Haiti




A cholera outbreak in Haiti has already taken 337 lives, with a total of 4764 cases detected. As the category three Hurricane Tomas approaches Haiti, the current situation is estimated to continue to go downhill. Currently the U.N. is testing sewage water in Haiti; current water sample tests do not indicate the presence of cholera in most water sources. However, the U.N. mission sent to do the tests still suspect that the outbreak of cholera was caused by the sewage water that came from the latrines at a military base that was tested for cholera. It is believed that the spread of cholera may have originated from kitchen of the base rather than the septic tanks located at the facility.

The people of Haiti first went through an earthquake, and now they are now being hit with cholera (and a possible hurricane). We must do something to prevent a nationwide epidemic from occurring.

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3 comments:

Alicia said...

This is very, very sad. It's heartbreaking that these people are suffering so much in such a short period of time!

I decided to research how much it takes to cure cholera, and I found that the shocking thing is that cholera is "an easily treatable disease" (according to the World Health Organization at http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/treatment/en/index.html) and really all it takes to cure this devastating disease are "oral rehydration salts" (again according to the World Health Organization at http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/treatment/en/index.html).

Basically, cholera results in the loss of fluids which causes dehydration and loss of salts. Simply replacing these salts through a saline drip is enough to allow the patient's immune system to cure the disease.

Obviously, more should be done to help eradicate the numerous cases of cholera in Haiti at the moment, and I am shocked that so little is being done to stop such an easily treatable disease. Because cholera kills so quickly, many people are dying simply because it takes so much time for aid to reach the victims.

Really, progress is being made at a slow pace. The New York Times reported that Haitians actually rioted against the building of a cholera treatment center because of concern that building it so close to a school would put school children at risk. I completely understand their concerns, but I still find it painful how little progress is being made in this place that desperately needs help and aid.
-Alice Bebbington

October 31, 2010 at 4:39 PM
Alexander Phinney said...

Michael

While I do, of course, agree with Alice that this epidemic is indeed very sad, in the long run I see little we could do to "solve" Haiti.

Please do not mistake me for a misanthrope. I do support and believe in the power of charity, and have no doubt that the compassion and humanity of people in the States and around the world will continue to make an impact in Haiti, but from the way it sounds, you may feel like this is not enough.

I'd be interested to know what you mean when you say that "we" should do something. Do you mean "we" the people of the world or "we" the American government? If you do mean the latter, the answer is "not much."

Unless a widespread grassroots movement inspired our government to change policy to help Haiti, change will not happen on a federal level unless the American government has a stake in it's outcome. (Take the situation in the Middle East, for example.)

It's both quixotic and foolhearty to expect that our government will contribute in any radical way. Really the only thing that will improve the situation or this empidemic is the charity of the American people and the rest of the world, and even then, an unimaginable amount of support would be needed to raise Haiti out of the Third World.

From the looks of things now, Haiti will be a Third World country for a long time, regardless of how many epidemics we can prevent or hurricanes we can recover from.

The most we can do, aside from personal contributions, is hope that the UN can coordinate some sort of relief effort. Beyond that, the chances of "saving" Haiti are tragically slim.

October 31, 2010 at 5:39 PM
Zoe Bartlett said...

With most other tragic cases, I think it would be nice if schools and other organizations began saving up donations and contributing the money to help save as many as the infected as they can. In reality, the money may not benefit the people of Haiti as much as we would like it to as a community, and if the entire nation were involved, then as a nation as well, but a little help never hurt, right? This is an optimistic view, I know, but I think it's better to act fast and effectively than to sit around and mourn the deaths of the unfortunate. This also may sound morbid and wrong, but this may also be a time to take a moment and appreciate that the people of America, at least those who are not in poverty, are fortunate enough to be provided with clean water that does not lead to outbreaks such as this. Nevertheless, this is still an incredibly tragic story and I hope that Haiti is given help.

November 1, 2010 at 9:51 AM

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