©InfoAs the cholera crisis in Haiti continues, Nativida, a British Red Cross nurse, is taking a team of three hygiene promotion volunteers to Annexe de la Mairie camp in Port-au-Prince every day.
They set up a mobile clinic that exists specifically to tackle cholera by raising awareness of the disease and distributing hygiene and cholera prevention items. They see around 300 people each day, traveling to other neighbourhoods and camps of displaced people, including Delmas 19 where the British Red Cross has started a community regeneration project.
Nativida explains: “Since December we have been running this mobile unit because cholera has become a big problem in Port-au-Prince. We talk to people about how to prevent and treat cholera. We also hand out soap, oral rehydration salts (ORS), and water purification tabs to help people stay healthy and drink safe water.”
Hygiene promotion
Within minutes of their arrival, a long queue forms near the Red Cross volunteers. Nativida and her team begin a demonstration of how to prepare ORS and tell the crowd when they should be used. After the demonstration is finished and good hygiene tips have been given, the distribution begins.
©InfoNativida also works with the children in the camp, gathering them into a circle and singing a song about good hygiene that she wrote with her 13-year-old son. “All the kids love the song, even the older ones,” she says. “They already know all the lyrics. After we finish singing I give them all soap and ORS to take back to their homes.”
Jimmy, 10, is one of the boys in the group. “I like singing the song, it is fun,” he says. “I have learnt about how to stay clean and wash my hands.”
Working together
Sintia Georges is a nurse working for Médecins du Monde in Annexe de la Mairie. She and her colleagues run a small cholera treatment unit in the camp, and see a handful of cases per day.
Sintia says: “The Red Cross mobile unit is great and it really helps us. If people don’t have water purification tablets and soap then they are more likely to get sick.
“Raising awareness of good hygiene amongst the population is the most important thing we can do. Once people know what to do, the situation will improve. This is an excellent example of organisations collaborating with each other. Together, we can beat cholera.”
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