©InfoSince the end of October 2010, the Red Cross has been responding to a cholera outbreak that began in Haiti’s Artibonite region, two hours north of Port-au-Prince. The outbreak then spread to all ten provinces in Haiti.
By the beginning of July, the Ministry of Health had reported 5,900 deaths from cholera and nearly 389,000 cholera cases.
The Haitian Red Cross, with support from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, continues to reach those affected by cholera with both treatment and preventative measures.
Treating cholera in Port-au-Prince
The British Red Cross set up a cholera treatment unit in La Piste camp, which is home to around 50,000 people. In the overcrowded camps, the disease can spread quickly and it is essential that we have places where trained nurses are on hand to isolate and treat suspected cases. People from areas neighbouring La Piste are also being sent there for treatment.
Rehydration treatment points were set up in three other areas: Automeca Camp, Delmas 19 and Annex de la Marie.
Hygiene promotion
Making sure people know how to avoid infection and recognise the symptoms is critical to halting the spread of the disease. Hundreds of Red Cross hygiene promotion volunteers continue to go door-to-door across camps making sure people know how to keep themselves and their families safe.
Local radio networks, newspapers, SMS technology and other media are also being used to make sure health information reaches as many people as possible.
Reaching rural communities
Until October 2011, the British Red Cross also worked in many remote communities in the mountains of the South Department of Les Cayes.
Cholera treatment and prevention in rural Haiti is very different from in the capital. Spreading hygiene information and delivering medical supplies to these rural communities often involves long treks on foot or by donkey.
The Red Cross trained people who live in remote communities in hygiene promotion. These volunteers can now travel to other villages further up the mountains to spread life-saving information. As of February 2011, more than 200 volunteers had been trained in the South Department.
Read more about the need to stop the spread of cholera in Haiti
Updated December 2011