(Port-au-Prince) The government of Haiti and the UN office in Port-au-Prince launched an appeal on Tuesday to raise $145.6 million to deal with a resurgent cholera epidemic, which has already caused the death of 161 people in the country.
The very poor Caribbean country, already hit by a serious humanitarian and security crisis, has been facing a return of this disease since the beginning of October, which had killed more than 10,000 people between 2010 and 2019.
The Ministry of Public Health reported 8,708 suspected cases, 7,623 hospitalized cases and 802 confirmed cases in its epidemiological bulletin on Monday. The epidemic is evolving in 7 of the 10 departments of the country.
“Cholera is a preventable and treatable disease, and, drawing on their experience and know-how, national institutions quickly set up a response strategy with the unwavering support of the entire local humanitarian community and international community,” the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in the country, Ulrika Richardson, said in a statement.
The Prime Minister’s Twitter account in Haiti indicated that the head of government, Ariel Henry, took part in the call for funding ceremony.
The funds raised following this appeal should “provide vital assistance to 1.4 million people living in the most affected areas”, adds the UN press release.
“The cholera crisis is hitting already vulnerable populations hard,” notes the UN, citing the recent report by the World Food Program (WFP) which reports that, for the first time in Haiti, some 19,000 people have fallen into the acute food emergency, having to make do with just one meal a day of poor quality food.
Added to this food insecurity is global insecurity: since June 2021, nearly 100,000 people have had to flee their neighborhoods to escape the violence of armed gangs, further notes the press release from the United Nations office.