Two years after the earthquake in Haiti on January
12, 2010, the island of Hispaniola unfortunately still manages to face
difficulty with the seemingly uncontrollable outbreak of cholera. The disease
is transmitted primarily by the intake of food and water that has been
contaminated by feces of an infected person. Cholera mainly occurs in places
with poor sanitation, crowding, war, and famine.. Being aware of this issue,
representatives from health
institutes around the globe gathered on January 11th at the Pan
American Health Organization to discuss the spread of the disease and
also what actions need to be taken to help eradicate it. They managed to come
up with a campaign called Call to Action: A Cholera-Free Hispaniola. Reportedly 7,001 deaths in Haiti and 363 in
Dominican Republic have occurred as of December 25th. They have managed to save thousands of lives
with various control strategies. Haiti still reports 100 to 200 cases of
cholera a day. The fact that cholera is even present in the region is important
not only to the island of Hispaniola but to all of the neighboring countries as
well. Presidents Michael Joseph Martelly of
Haiti and Leonel Fernandez of the Domican Republic have both go on to say how
they not only wish to gain control of the disease but to kick it completely off
the continent. I do believe that it is definitely possible for the countries to
put a stop to the widespread of the cholera disease. I just feel as if it is
going to take more than just the figure heads bringing awareness to the issue.
The people of the countries are the ones who need to take more action to help.
Taking more initiative by doing simple things such as washing their hands, and
actually receiving water through the designated water supply could work to greatly
improve the overall health. To me, its almost as if the people will not start
to really take action until the already sky rocketed number of deaths from this
disease increases to an even more ridiculous number.
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