The cholera epidemic in Haiti has infected 4, 147 people and claimed the lives of 292 others according to the Pan American Health Organization. The cholera epidemic is a result of contaminants dumped into a major canal that supplies water to roughly 600,000 Haitians. The outbreak has exacerbated an already desperate situation in a country that is still recovering from the earthquake of January 12, 2010.

International Action (IA) is an organization that provides water resources throughout Haiti. The organization lost 80 percent of the water wells that they built as a result of the January 12^th earthquake. Nonetheless, IA continues to service Haiti by providing chlorinators and clean water to the country.

Executive Director Lindsay Mattison discussed the work of IA and their response to the cholera epidemic in an exclusive telephone interview with WaterWideWeb (WWW). Mattison said IA has already dispatched 900 chlorine tablets to organizations working with cholera infected people and other NGOs in the public health sector.

IA works directly with Direction Nationale de l’Eau Potable et Assainissement (DINEPA), a Haitian water agency, to provide clean water to those who need it. Presently, IA is at work in St. Marc where the cholera outbreak began and continues to spread. IA is primarily working to prevent cholera from reaching to communities that have not been infected.

Armed forces have created blockades to prevent Haitians from fleeing St. Marc. “There are about seven or eight people who arrive in Port-au-Prince everyday who get past the roadblocks that are keeping people from leaving St. Marc” said Mattison. If cholera infected people mass migrate to Port-au-Prince, where sanitation conditions are still unmonitored and access to clean water and hygienic amenities are lacking, casualties from the cholera epidemic would spike.

Internally displaced Haitians are susceptible to cholera and other water-borne diseases. IA plans to supply sixty eight 2,000 gallon containers of clean water to at-risk areas in Haiti. IA also distributes chlorine tablets to local communities and teaches residents how to effectively use them for water purification.

Clean Water for Haiti (CWH) is a faith-based organization that has worked in Haiti since 2001. CWH installs bio-sand water filters that remove 95-99 percent of the bacteria found in drinking water. Currently, CWH is working in the St. Marc area to maximize prevention of further spread of cholera.

Peter Craig is the site manager at CWH’s location in Pierre Payen in the Artibonite Valley. In a telephone interview with WWW, Craig discussed the impact of the cholera epidemic and the overall infrastructural incapacity of water systems in Haiti.

 “The cholera epidemic is a good example of how far behind the rest of the world Haiti is,” said Craig. In Haiti, public works programs are not in place to monitor water quality and management systems. “Conditions that led to the cholera outbreak were possible in Haiti but not in other places of the world like Europe in Canada”, Craig continued.

Approximately 300 deaths are attributed to Haiti’s cholera epidemic. But Craig noted that since St. Marc is a remote and rural area, health organizations may be impeded from accounting for every cholera fatality. In Pierre Payen where Craig is located, a small mission hospital is overwhelmed from the patient influx they have received from the nearby St. Marc Hospital.

Living conditions in Haiti are optimizing the potential for a cholera epidemic. “Even before the epidemic, people were dying from water borne diseases” said Craig. Diarrhea and typhoid claim the lives of Haitians every day.

Lack of infrastructural development underscores tragedies like the cholera epidemic and other water-related fatalities in Haiti. Sanitation programs in Haiti are not implemented or maintained. Bio sand filters and other water purification methods should be distributed throughout the country. Latrines and other systems to effectively manage human excreta are vital to prohibiting future water contamination.

The cholera epidemic in Haiti highlights the urgency for dependable nation-wide water management systems.  Living in overcrowded displacement camps without access to clean water creates an ideal environment for cholera to ravage the country. Proper hygiene articles and clean water must be provided to internally displaced Haitians residing in the congested tent cities to avert the cholera epidemic from crippling the country.

Chlorination systems, bio sand filters, and clean water resources are preventative measures to avoid public health risks that endanger Haitian lives on a local level. Cholera and other water-borne diseases must be combated systematically on the regional and national levels to make a substantive impact on the underlying water problem. Resolutions to Haiti’s cholera epidemic and overall water complexities require a governmental water program that monitors water quality and sanitation systems. Hope for Haiti includes provision of free and uncontaminated water.

Photo above provided by International Action.