By Maya Brownstein | Annual Giving Assistant
Thank you for supporting Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante and our efforts to end the continuing cholera outbreak in Haiti.
Nearly six years after arriving in Haiti, cholera is still sickening and killing thousands of Haitians. According to recent government figures, over 770,000 Haitians - 7% of the country's population - have suffered from cholera. 9,200 have died. So far in 2016, more than 6,000 have fallen ill, and on average 37 people are dying per month.
Cholera occurs so regularly in Haiti that World Health Organization officials now consider it endemic to the country. Many researchers point out that the cholera bacterium has likely become established in the country's rivers, estuaries and coastal waters, making the illness that much harder to eradicate. Not to mention the fact that only 24% of the population has access to toilets, meaning that adequate sanitation and safe water - keys to beating cholera - are unavailable to the vast majority of Haitians.
Dwindling international support for cholera eradication compounds these issues. In 2010, when cholera first hit Haiti, over 200 international organizations were offering financial and policy assistance. Fewer than 12 of these organizations are still providing these resources, which has slowed relief efforts and helped allow cholera to rage on.
PIH's senior health and policy advisor, Dr. Louise Ivers, commented, "We need to raise our expectations of what's possible to do in Haiti and other countries in terms of these diseases that we've completely eliminated from our own societies."
PIH/ZL continues to fight cholera through treatment and prevention. Our staff of local community health workers accompany cholera patients to treatment at PIH clinics; open rehydtration posts in remote locations; educate communities about santitation; and work to establish adquate sanitation and water systems.
Your support makes this lifesaving work possible, and along the way helps redefine what's possible in global health. From all of us at PIH, thank you!
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