Gains made in Haiti cholera fight show additional resources can ensure 'cholera will go' – UN Adviser

7 December 2016 - A senior United Nations official has stressed that that recent successes in the fight against cholera in Haiti demonstrate that when the UN and Haitian authorities receive the necessary funds, real progress can be made, and that eventually, "cholera will go."

In an interview with the UN News Service, Dr. David Nabarro, a UN Special Advisor, highlighted the recent massive recent vaccination campaign, backed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/ UN World Health Organization (WHO), that reached 729,000 vulnerable Haitians and the increase in 'rapid response' teams, which has had a positive impact in stopping outbreaks of the disease in its tracks.

“I want enough cash in the bank so that we can be sure of being able to have this response capacity right through into 2018. Then, we can really get this outbreak right down, numbers really small, and then if we combine it [efforts to improve] water supplies and sanitation for every Haitian, cholera will go,” he underscored.

Dr. Nabarro noted that in August of this year, it became clear that the number of people with cholera in Haiti was actually larger than it had been last year. Because of shortages of funding, the number of teams that could respond rapidly when individuals were reported to have cholera-type symptoms had really dropped from about 70 to around 30.

“With a situation like that, where you can't respond quickly to a person who is sick, you get more people in the vicinity of the sick person also being ill with diarrhoeal disease and probably with cholera,” he said.

The UN borrowed resources internally to increase the number of rapid response teams. As a result, the number increased from 32 in April to 88 today and the majority of people, who were reported as being sick with watery diarrhoea and suspected cholera, can now get treated within 48 hours of their illness being reported.