For Cholera Articles see @dominique_e link:

I have a diary with cholera timeline

Cholera has sickened at least 370,000 people and killed more than 5,500 since the outbreak started in October, according to the Health Ministry. The precise total is unknowable since many Haitians live in remote areas with no access to health care. The disease is relatively easy to treat if people can get help in time.... There are signs of a growing problem in Carrefour, a large and crowded city on the right at the western edge of the capital. Treatment centres there were reporting more than 300 new cases a day in early June, more than twice what they were seeing back in November, according to the aid group Oxfam. An emergency latrine built in Carrefour collapsed as heavy rains fell and the waste spilled into a camp, according to a June report by the U.N.'s shelter cluster. UNICEF's Mark Henderson, head of the U.N.'s water and sanitation response, said many non-governmental organizations tapped into earthquake-related funds in the fall in a desperate effort for treatment and prevention. That money is no longer available. "The initial funding that everybody received has come to an end," Henderson said...

As the International Community (IC); 12,000 UN Troops (MINUSTAH); 12,000 Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs); the US installed Haiti puppet President Martelly ; and the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) stand by, thousands of Haitians are dying from a disease that is both easily prevented and easily treated.

How We Helped Pave Haiti's Road to Cholera Hell Canada and the UN have committed public health malpractice on a very large scale.

First cholera in Haiti in 100 years Ever since 2004, when the U.S. and Canada encouraged the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the nominal government of Haiti has been ineffective, especially the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP). Haiti has been run by MINUSTAH and thousands of non-governmental organizations. They range from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Medecins Sans Frontieres to religious groups. When cholera arrived last October, Haiti had not seen it in a century, if ever. It had started along the Meille River in a rural area, downstream from a MINUSTAH peacekeepers' camp that had just received a contingent of Nepali soldiers, and suspicion fell on them at once.

US and IC policy are directly responsible for cholera reemergence in Haiti: in 2000 the US blocked IBD loans to Haiti that were designated to upgrade Haiti's water system: in 2004 the US, after removing Aristide from office, closed, looted and then occupied the teaching hospital that Aristide began; and there is the unmet pledges and the unspent aid money. US and IC priorities become clear when they respond to the cholera epidemic by insisting the sham elections elections go on regardless of its effects on containing the epidemic, and instead of giving IDP residents jobs, clean water, safety, and millions in aid, money is given out in contracts for sweatshops and "security."

The UN's Peacekeeping force in Haiti, called the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH), is ostensibly there to provide security. Yet as women and children are raped and victimized at alarming rates, crime runs rampant in IDP camps. Greedy landowners use violence and intimidation to illegally evict Haitians from the homeless camps the 12,000 MINUSTAH troops stand idly by and crime goes unaccounted for, unchecked and women remain unprotected.

The lack of accountability is appalling; for the powerful, anything goes when dealing with Haiti's poor. Garaudy Laguerre (one of the many 2010 Presidential candidates) expressed the lack of accountability well,"Too often, Haitians die without reasons and without consequences. This time, there will be consequences." Unfortunately not likely.

Cholera thousands dead hundreds of thousands ill: As of July 9, 2011 cholera has sickened 370,000 people and caused more than 5,500 deaths.

Setting the Stage for Disaster



In 2000 the US Illegally for Political Reasons Blocked Aid Money that was Designated to Upgrade Haiti's Water System in the Infected Area in Artibonite St. Marc Region!





Cholera is an extremely virulent water-born disease. It is spread by faeces tainted water or contaminated food and is prevented with clean (treated or potable) water.

Cholera in Haiti is a clear and direct example of the devastating effects of US policy.

Joia Mukherjee, Chief Medical Officer PIH, broke the story, In 2000, a set of loans from the Inter American Development Bank to the government of Haiti for water, sanitation and health were blocked for political reasons. Oct 22, 2010

On Democracy Now Dr. Even Lyon said that there is a direct line from the US blocking the loan, to cholera ending up in Haiti now.

PIH: US blocked humanitarian AID that was designated to upgrade water system in the Artibonite St. Marc ! In 2000, a set of loans from the Inter American Development Bank to the government of Haiti for water, sanitation and health were blocked for political reasons. The city of St. Marc (population 220,000) and region of the lower Artibonite (population 600,000) were among the areas slated for upgrading of the public water supply.



Video Democracy Now PIH Partners in Health Physician on Haiti: "Cholera Will Not Go Away Until Underlying Situations that Make People Vulnerable Change" 10-26-10

DR. EVAN LYON: The Inter-American Development Bank recognized that water systems were vulnerable in 1997, approved loans around $54 million in 1998 to come to Haiti to improve water systems, recognizing how important this is to maintaining public health. In 2000, 2001, based on political considerations, trying to pressure the Haitian government to proceed with some electoral changes, the US Treasury Department, which has a majority voting stake in the IDB, pressured the IDB to slow down loan disbursement.... So we have a direct line: showing a recognition that water systems are vulnerable, the need for loans to come out to repair these life-saving infrastructures, and then a slowdown, a decade-long slowdown, which has a tremendous effect on the population at large. And now, in this period after the earthquake, when people are moving out of the city into the countryside, where health resources are scattered and less available, it has made the population vulnerable. And I think it’s reasonable to draw a straight line from these loans being slowed down and cut off to the epidemic that emerged a week ago.

Brian Concannon Founder and Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti IJDH in an interview with Daily Kos Haiti Diary agreed I agree with Evan's comments about the historical context.

The Undermining of Haitian Health Care:The closing of the medical school

Cholera is especially dangerous because of its short duration. It often kills within hours of first symptoms. It is easily treated with re-hydration and antibiotics but many people don't get help on time. The US sent Marines to Haiti in the middle of the night and "escorted" Aristide out of Haiti under the threat of mass blood shed in Port-au-Prince. The US then went about reversing the progress Aristide made, including--his pride and joy--the teaching hospital he started. US Marines closed, looted and then set up barracks there; and, along with MINUSTAH, occupied the space, until recently. Thousand of Haitians are now dying from an easily treated disease because of lack of accessible health care. Cholera in Haiti is a clear example of the devastating effects of US policy and unchecked capitalism where greed is the sole motivation and Haitian lives are inconsequential.

The Undermining of Haitian Health Care: Setting the Stage for Disaster ... on the evening of February 28, 2004, Aristide was overthrown and forcibly removed to the Central African Republic in an internationally organized coup d’état. Less than one month after its opening, the hospital and the university complex of which it was a part, were closed down at gunpoint and occupied by U.S. Marines and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The 247 new medical students watched as their classrooms were turned into barracks, their instructors forced to flee from political persecution (due to threats on his life, Dr. Polynice fled to Europe), and much of their material and equipment pillaged to service the capital's private medical clinics.



Red Cross Delivers Untreated, Non-potable Water to IDP Camps!!

Haiti cholera death toll passes 250

Amid news of cholera hitting Port-au-Prince Haiti's Capital,October 23rd Al Jazeera interviewed the American Red Cross', Country Director, who admits the water he delivers to Haiti's IDP camps is non-drinkable. He says the Red Cross tells people to boil it, while acknowledging that people in IDP camps lack the fuel and equipment to boil it. The Red Cross Director said they deliver untreated, non-potable water because it is very hard to deliver safe drinkable water.

Red Cross raised hundreds of millions supposedly to help Haitians; Red Cross, as well as other NGOs, were completely unprepared for cholera and the pending hurricane season.

Experts Agree the UN brought cholera to Haiti. The UN continues to avoid responsibility. Cholera link

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti: IJDH Does amazing work in Haiti. I donate to them whenever I can afford it. Please support IJDH's work. IJDH draws on its founders’ internationally-acclaimed success accompanying Haiti’s poor majority in the fields of law, medicine and social justice activism. We seek the restoration of the rule of law and democracy in the short term, and work for the long-term sustainable change necessary to avert Haiti’s next crisis. "For friends of Haiti who seek to support a progressive and principled human rights organization that gets its facts right and does not erase history, look no further than the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti." — Paul Farmer, Co-Founder, Partners in Health Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti: Twitter AP Reporter: @KatzOnEarth Jonathan M. Katz

Danticat: To make a difference support grassroots women's organizations ... that deal with gender violence including FAVILEK & @IJDH 6 Jul via web Unfavorite Undo Retweet Reply

The Aristide Foundation for Democracy (AFD) was created in 1996 by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (the first democratically elected president of Haiti) with a simple principle in mind: "The promise of democracy can only be fulfilled if all sectors of Haitian society are able to actively participate in the democratic life of the nation."

