UN efforts to stem cholera crisis in Haiti

(Vatican Radio) The United Nations is raising the alarm about a continuing cholera crisis in Haiti and the difficulty of funding projects to improve clean water and sanitation facilities in the Caribbean island nation. Last year the UN raised barely a quarter of the $38 million it needed to provide lifesaving supplies such as basic water purification tablets.

Pedro Medrano, UN Senior Coordinator for the response to cholera in Haiti is currently visiting a number of European capitals to call for greater support for the country which was devastated by an earthquake in January 2010. The current cholera outbreak began in October of that year, leading critics to accuse UN peacekeepers of bringing the deadly disease back into the country. Philippa Hitchen talked to Pedro Medrano about the challenges involved:

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Medrano points out that Haiti has the largest number of cholera cases in the Western Hemisphere, with more than 700.000 cases since the outbreak started in 2010. Although progress has been made and there are less new cases today, we still have aruond 20.000 new cases this year and Medrano believes it's important to raise awareness and remind the international community that the work in Haiti is not over yet....

Commenting on the difficulty of fund raising, Medrano says there are many crises around the world, including ebola in West Africa. Both ebola and cholera, he notes, feed on weak public health systems and it's a good reminder that these two infectious diseases are symptoms of extreme poverty....

Asked about the most urgent needs that the UN is focusing on, Medrano says it's vital to save lives by treating new cases - in the past two months alone there have been close to 5.000 new cases. But at the same time, he adds, we need to work with communities on prevention, including vaccination programmes and the distribution of water purification tablets at household level....

While the legal issue of responsibility for the outbreak in Haiti is being dealt with in three law suits, Medrano says there is not a single donor that would have a problem supporting the UN in its work on cholera in the country. He says the UN is trying to tackle the emergency as well as investing in basic social infrastructure but more resources are needed.....