A case study about Haiti and their cholera epidemic: background, factors that helped increase the spread (environmental, human), impacts on population, strategies used to minimise impacts (national/international), and the role of international organisations such as the ICRC and British Red Cross
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Haiti Case Study
Haiti is in the western hemisphere and is in the Caribbean, and shares an island with the
Dominican Republic.
Population:
10.8 million (July 2018)
Literacy:
60.7% (2015 est.)
GDP/capita:
$1,800 (2017)
Access to clean water:
69% of population has access to an improved water source
HDI:
0.498 – 168 out 189
80% of population live below the poverty line
Haiti suffers from tropical storms, which brings about a storm surge and leads to coastal
flooding. There is also torrential rain that accompanies the storms.
There are major fault lines as well that run through the country, which pose a huge risk to
those living there, especially since there a major one next to the capital city, Port au Prince.
, What is Cholera?
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by waterborne bacteria. Transmission
typically occurs through water contaminated by the faeces of infected people, either by
drinking contaminated water or eating food that has come into contact with it.
Earthquake
Outbreak of cholera after the 2010 earthquake is the most severe in recent history.
The earthquake was registered as a 7 on the magnitude scale and there were 50+
aftershocks.
Death toll: 220,000
Widespread damage to national and local infrastructure, including serious damage to roads
and water systems.
Cholera in Haiti
The outbreak didn’t occur until Oct 2010. Even though there was a great deal of
international aid and rebuilding and recovery were well underway, people were still living in
extremely poor conditions.
Environmental factors that affected the spread of disease such as climate, sanitation, water
supply and food
(not deemed to have a significant factor in the initial outbreak)
- Hurricane Tomas in 2010 afterwards caused rapid flooding in many parts of the
country = overflowing latrines and further spreading infected water
- Hurricane Sandy in Dec 2012 caused a serious resurgence of cholera infection
- in a seismically active region, but an LIDC, so very poor infrastructure in place
- in Hurricane Belt – suffered large losses in 2008 and not fully recovered
- large numbers of people were forced to use rivers for all their water needs, including
drinking, cooking, washing and as an alternative to latrines
- food is then washed with this water which contains strands of the bacteria and the
ingested
- ranked 147th out 147 countries for water security
- there was a pre-existing condition of malnutrition and of lack of adequate food
security – exacerbated by the earthquake
- as a result of climate change and global warming, the country is at an increased risk
of cholera transmission – more extreme and frequent natural disasters
- above average air temperatures following the earthquake + high rainfall beforehand
led to favourable conditions for the persistence and growth of the bacterium
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