If you look at a map of Haiti there's a valley just north of Port-au-Prince called Artebonite, with a river, called River de Artebonite running right through it. It has a single 'main' road running through the valley, which is fairly sparcely populated. It faired pretty well during the earthquake in January, and therefore the government has been encouraging Haitians to move from the capital (Port) to the Province (valley). But now the river, which has been a critical life line for the valley, making it great farming land, is turning out to be quite the opposite.
Well, with the additional population, of mostly poor Haitians, to an area that has neither running water (besides the occasional city well) or electricity, you're asking for trouble. And sure enough, many people in the valley depend on the river to bathe, wash clothes, and drink. Leaving the population very vulnerable to a water-born disease like cholera.
About 4 days ago we heard about 30-odd people having died at the local hospital, and before we knew it, another 20 had passed. By that next day, they realized it was cholera. Cholera dehydrates it's victims, who usually shit 10 liters of diarrhea in a day. Once recognized, patients can be hooked up to fluids, otherwise they usually die within a couple days.
So far it's 'only' claimed about 200 lives, and sickened about 2300 people. The president, Rene Preval, is already hinting at canceling November's elections (convenient), which could make things interesting. The real fear is if it reaches Port, which I'm just hearing happened today. They estimate 800,000 cases, with an unmeasurable number of deaths.
The diseased river runs about 1/2 a mile from our house here in Verrettes. Still, we haven't been effected, with our handy filter providing us with safe, purified water, so don't worry about us. We're in pretty good health.
I'm over my sunburn, and my blisters are healing. Instead I've developed a heat rash, and our ankles have been destroyed by mosquitoes, and the consequent itching. But we're doing well.
Just life in the time of cholera.
Posted by Hans
That's rough. Do you know of any schemes there for building rural latrines? I've read about this sort of problem in India. A combination of 'education programs' ("Don't shit in the river!"), rudimentary latrine construction, and water purification can knock out cholera. Sometimes.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy because you still see people bathing in the dirty, dirty river, and scooping up bucket loads for drinking water. I guess it's just too far to walk a mile (or whatever it is) to the public fountain, which at least has some filtration.
ReplyDeletePublic service announcements (like "don't drink the water") seem to fall on deaf ears. There's a sense here of "if I can't see germs, they must not exist".
Sad. But I doubt it'll get up to the 800,000 cases they estimated. Seems to already be slowing, and the hospitals are prepared.