Friday, November 26, 2010

Cholera Still on the Rise in Haiti

Hailey Ward
11/26/10
1:45pm
Blog 13

The cholera outbreak is still on the rise in Haiti. There are now more than 28,000 Haitians are treated for cholera symptoms. The epidemic is spreading twice as fast as health officials were originally expecting it to. On Wednesday the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Haiti, Nigel Fisher, said the scale of the outbreak meant that more than 200,000 cases of infection could be recorded in the first three months, instead of over six months as first estimated. The disease is spreading so fast that whenever a new treatment facility opens it is automatically filled with patients. Patients in Port-au-Prince are struggling to reach treatment facilities because of traffic. Cholera can kill in as little as four hours. Many people are dying in traffic jams. Health officials say that they are short on supplies and this is delaying their efforts. They are short on everything, from soap to body bags.
Help is seriously needed in Haiti. There have been over 1,500 people who have died due to cholera. More supplies and treatment facilities are needed to cope with the mass amounts of people seeking care. Although money is needed it is not the only thing. There is a huge demand for more nurses and doctors. The nurses and doctors in Haiti are overwhelmed with the amount of people, they need more help. Haiti is in need of money, supplies, doctors, nurses, and volunteers. The cholera outbreak has overwhelmed Haiti and it is going to take a lot for them to recover. More awareness needs to be raised on the conditions in Haiti.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11835859

1 comment:

Corinne Knowles said...

I'm not really sure what cholera is. Is it the disease that causes people to die from diarrhea? Anyways, it sounds like a horrible problem. I'm surprised I haven't heard about any organizations raising money to help these people. Obviously they really need our help.