991029 A Race to Help Haiti

A Race to Help Haiti

Officials are working around the clock to stop the spread of a deadly disease

By Suzanne Zimbler

Nine months after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, more than a million people are still living in temporary camps in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. With so many people living in close quarters, officials have long feared a major outbreak of disease. Now, they are fighting to prevent a deadly disease from spreading to the camps.

Last week, in an area about 60 miles northwest of the capital, more than 3,000 people became sick with cholera (kol-er-uh). The disease can spread quickly when there is a lack of clean water and sanitation. Officials are racing to help those who are sick, and to prevent the disease from spreading to other parts of the country.

In the Water

Cholera is spread when people drink contaminated, or dirty, water. Authorities think that water from Haiti's Artibonite River is to blame for the outbreak. The river is the country's central drainage system. Waste flows into the river. Communities that do not have access to enough clean water have been drinking from the river.

"We know that the disease is affecting the community near the river," says Jean-Francois St. Felix, who works for Haiti's National Department of Water Supply and Sanitation. "We are in the middle of informing people in the region."

Education Is Key

Haiti has not had a major outbreak of cholera for more than a century. The disease is a threat in many parts of the world. There are an estimated 3 to 5 million cases every year.

"One of the biggest challenges is that Haiti is not particularly familiar with this disease," says Imogene Wall, of the United Nations. Aid workers are teaching thousands of families how to avoid the disease. Radio announcements are explaining the importance of hand washing. The International Red Cross is sending out text messages, telling people to drink only safe water.

Help Is on the Way

Aid agencies like Oxfam are making sure that affected regions have clean water and medical care. Since authorities were worried about an outbreak of disease, they stored medical supplies in the country ahead of time. As a result, Haiti has enough medicine to treat 100,000 cases of cholera.

Health experts are hopeful that they will be able to control the outbreak. "It's not difficult to prevent the spread to Port-au-Prince," said Health Ministry director Gabriel Timothee. "We can prevent it."

Max- Haiti has suffered from the earthquake in January, but it damaged the country too much, and many people died of the earthquake, some people are dead of some buildings crashed on them, and many others are dead because of the lack of medical equipment to save them. Nine months later, this disease called Cholera was spreading Port-au-Prince, and thousands of citizens are been affected of this disease, and two hundred of them are dead already, because most of the people still live in camps. Because of the lack of clean water, most of the people drink dirty water instead of clean water. I think after the earthquake happened in Haiti, there must still have many damaged homes, and I really think the disease of cholera affected as worse as the earthquake. I think some poor countries have so many diseases is because of two things, one is no clean water, and the other one is too less medical equipment. Now, many officials are saving those people who are sick, and teach them how to avoid the disease, and notice them not to drink dirty water. I think the disease can be spread slowly after many months, and keep people safe.