Life
Haiti: Cholera outbreak under control – Prime Minister Lamothe
The cholera outbreak has sickened almost 600,000 people and killed more than 7,400 in Haiti since October 2010. Cholera is an infection that causes severe diarrhoea and can lead to dehydration and death. It occurs in places with poor sanitation and can be treated by drinking clean fluids.
In a report to the U.N. Security Council last month, Ban said there had been an increase in the number of cholera cases since the rainy season began in early March and the World Health Organization projects up to 112,000 cases during 2012.
But Lamothe said the outbreak was “really under control” and said that the United Nations mission in Haiti, which began in 2004, had only helped the country and the government was “eternally grateful” for the world body’s help.
“We like to think on the positive side, we are the eternal optimists,” he said. “You need that in Haiti to run a country that’s been mismanaged for the past 30 years. You need a lot of optimism and a lot of will to do the right thing.”
Still Struggling
Haiti is still struggling to lift itself from the rubble left by an earthquake in January 2010 that killed about 300,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless. Lamothe said 1.2 million of those had been moved back into homes, while the United Nations said 390,000 were still living in tent camps.
Only half the US$5.5 billion pledged by the international community at a 2010 fundraising conference has been delivered.
“We are working at remobilizing, re-energizing the donor community at least to fulfil the commitment they had made,” Lamothe said. “Haiti’s destruction was estimated at US$12.5 billion, out of which right now we received a fraction of that.”
