Life
Haiti: Cholera outbreak under control – Prime Minister Lamothe
(Reuters) – A cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed thousands and been blamed on U.N. peacekeepers was “regrettable” but has been brought under control, the prime minister of the Caribbean nation said at the United Nations on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe met U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday, but he told Reuters they did not discuss accusations by some Haitians that Nepalese peacekeepers sparked the epidemic after camp latrines contaminated a river.
“This (the cholera outbreak) is regrettable,” Lamothe, who became prime minister in May, said during an interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
“Our duty is to take care of the people and to solve the problem and that’s where we have been focusing our attention, while the U.N. is investigating the causes.”
An independent panel appointed by Ban to study the epidemic issued a May 2011 report that the United Nations said did not determine conclusively how cholera was introduced into Haiti.
But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June 2011 found that evidence strongly suggested U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal were the source.
Lamothe said he and Ban “didn’t discuss the cause, we discussed the treatment and going forward.”
