cholera update
It is moving, but despite reports to the contrary, cholera isn’t in all of Haiti’s 10 departments yet. MSPP has confirmed cholera in 7 of the 10 departments (Artibonite, Central, Ouest, Nord Ouest, Sud, Nord, and Nord Est). This map has accurate and up to date tracking of cholera cases. As you can see, Jérémie is one of very few unaffected regions. This is largely due to the fact that Trois Riviere service (cargo and passenger boat that makes weekly trips to Jérémie from Port-au-Prince) has been shut down for the past few weeks. Also, the road from Jérémie to Les Caye and Port-au-Prince sustained some pretty serious damage after Hurricane Tomas. As of Nov 17, the MSPP puts the total number of cases at 18,382 with 1,110 fatalities.
Yesterday we had a training session with 57 Volunteer Youth Health Educators (VYEs). We reviewed the basic info about cholera, how to recognize it, and what actions to take if it shows up in your village. Hygiene and oral rehydration is the brunt of it. We taught them how to make “tippy-taps,” to make it easier to wash your hands frequently without a water tap. We distributed chlorox for treating water (less than a teaspoon can sanitize a 5 gallon bucket of water), which the VYEs will distribute to all of the schools in their villages. We also trained them to mix homemade oral rehydration salts—1 teaspoon of salt, 8 teaspoons of sugar, and a liter of water. A serious case of cholera could necessitate up to 20 liters of ORS. The kids had a lot of interesting questions, no doubt a product of them trying to grapple with this strange new threat that they don’t quite understand. “What should we do with corpses? Can we hold normal funerals?” “Can we still bathe in the river?” “Should we still have communion at church?”
Lony and Antoine measuring out Oral Rehydration Salts—Tippy-taps with attached soap in the foreground
Due to the remote and mountainous villages that many of these kids came from, good hygiene and oral rehydration is really the only shot they have. The key is to start drinking the oral rehydration solution before vomiting begins, and drink it often. There is a dearth of IV Ringer solution and only limited antibiotics here in Jérémie.
Nervous Volunteer Youth Health Educators during a Cholera presentation
Collaboration and planning is well underway—local organizations have split up the region’s schools, clinics, churches, and markets to conduct cholera education. The local hospital won’t be used for cholera patients, and plans to erect tents for Cholera Treatment Centers are in place. Aside from that, health messages are being passed on the radio, through mass text messages, and by our 44 Health Agents in 104 villages. I’ll update again with any changes.
In the meantime, here are a couple of good (or at least different) pieces on the recent riots in Cap-Haitien and in Port-au-Prince.
