The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned that the cholera outbreak declared at the end of September in Haiti is expanding at an «alarming» rate, especially in the capital, Port-au-Prince, with at least 97 deaths and 8,500 patients treated in its facilities since then.
«Our current centers are becoming overcrowded and we will soon be at maximum capacity,» warned MSF Haiti director Mumuza Muhindo.
The NGO has confirmed that the 389 beds available in its six treatment centers are almost full. «The evolution of the outbreak is very worrying,» Muhindo lamented after noting that his centers are already receiving about 270 patients a day.
MSF is one of the few organizations working in collaboration with the Haitian health authorities to combat the spread of cholera, «the resurgence of which is symptomatic of a catastrophic humanitarian and health situation,» the NGO laments.
According to MSF aid workers, the resumption of fuel supplies on November 4 after weeks under the control of an armed gang, «has not brought about a significant change in the situation in the country» because it is still too expensive.
As a result, the circulation of drinking water tankers has been reduced, and therefore access to clean water.
«The city is full of garbage that has not been collected for months,» Muhindo has lamented. «There is no water distribution in neighborhoods like Brooklyn, in Cité Soleil, where roads are cut off by garbage and flooded by clogged gutters and sewers, leading to massive flooding,» he has warned.
MSF says it is «ready to begin implementing a vaccination campaign in support of health authorities» and to complement other water and sanitation and health promotion activities with several hundred thousand doses of vaccines allocated to the country by the International Coordination Group (ICG).
