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UN warns of possible surge in Haiti cholera deaths
The strain of cholera, that originally came from South Asia, has already been reported in Mexico, Cuba and Dominican Republic with some deaths.
A single case of cholera in a Peruvian port in the 1990s spread to 18 South American countries and killed 10,000 people.
The UN assistant secretary general, who was named to the tough post in October, called for “a Marshall Plan for water and sanitation” in Haiti.
The UN has launched an appeal to raise US$2.2 billion dollars for Haiti over the decade. But Medrano said US$400 million has to be found over 2 years to contain the epidemic and build infrastructure to stop a repeat.
“This is a must and we can’t wait 10 years to have the whole country covered. We need to have a massive investment in water purification and sanitation” he said.
The Haitian government has reported more than 680,000 cases since the epidemic broke out in October 2010 near a UN camp where Nepalese peacekeepers were based.
Lawyers from the US-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) filed a lawsuit in New York in October seeking compensation from the United Nations.
Source: AFP
