IOM calls for $3.2 million to combat cholera outbreak in Haiti

Photo:

Carlos Garcia Rawlins / REUTERS

With almost 9,000 infections, the disease is already present in eight of the country’s ten provinces.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is requesting an urgent contribution of 3.2 million dollars to continue responding to the cholera outbreak that is affecting Haiti and given the serious situation of the displaced population in the country due to the violence from armed gangs.

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The latest report from the Haitian Ministry of Health puts 151 people dead as a result of the cholera outbreak and another 7,051 are hospitalized, while the number of confirmed cases amounts to 734 cases.

According to data provided this week by the UN, some 152 possible cases of cholera reported at the beginning of October have risen to almost 9,000, with the disease already present in eight of the ten provinces of the country.

Haiti reported its first cholera case in more than three years in early October, having managed to overcome a 2019 outbreak of the disease that began in October 2010 and killed nearly 10,000 people.

Cholera resurgence adds more stress to a complex humanitarian situation amid a volatile sociopolitical environment marked by roadblocks, fuel shortages, violent gang activity, and insecurity that restricts the provision of basic services, including access to water and healthcare.