Cholera is rapidly spreading in Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew and the country will be struck by another outbreak of the devastating disease if a massive effort isn’t launched to prevent it, aid agencies warn.
“In its wake, the hurricane left pools of stagnant water, overflowing rivers and dead bodies—creating a breeding ground for the waterborne disease,” the Guardian wrote Friday.
“There will be many more cases of cholera, and unnecessary deaths, all across areas affected by the hurricane if large-scale cholera treatment and prevention response doesn’t reach them immediately,” Conor Shapiro, president and CEO of the St Boniface Haiti Foundation, told the Guardian.
The newspaper explains the dire situation—one especially tragic given the history of cholera in Haiti:
“In the first month after cholera broke out, after the earthquake, a thousand people were impacted,” Lindstrom told the Guardian. “We’re really afraid that the same thing will happen in this situation—it just seems like access to water is already so, so limited.”
As part of an international effort to combat the disease, the World Health Organization is sending 1 million cholera vaccines to Haiti, while the U.N.—still under fire for causing the 2010 outbreak—announced Thursday that it is deploying a medical team to treat new cholera cases.
The cholera outbreak adds another dimension to the disastrous effects of the hurricane, the worst natural disaster in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake that claimed the lives of over 220,000. Haitians are already facing the prospect of mass starvation as a result of widespread crop failure from the hurricane, in addition to the destruction of whole villages.
“Some towns and villages have been almost wiped off the map,” U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon told reporters. “Tensions are already mounting as people await help. A massive response is required.”
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“But amid these concerns about food and shelter, the threat of contaminated water reigns,” the Guardian observes.
IJDH’s Lindstrom said: “It really does seem like this is one of the most urgent situations that’s facing people after the hurricane.”
“The reports we’re getting from the ground so far are pretty horrific,” Lindstrom added. “There are still a number of towns that are completely cut off from aid because they are so inaccessible by road and even the ones who are slowly getting aid in, there is a huge shortage of potable water.”