UNITED NATIONS – United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday called on the international community to provide immediate massive aid to Haiti to fight a deadly cholera epidemic raging through the impoverished Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
He warned that hundreds of thousands of lives were risk.
“Clearly, it will continue to spread, unfortunately,” he told an informal meeting of the General Assembly, noting that the epidemic could affect as many as 650 000 people in the next six months, and that the current toll may already be twice as high as the over 1 800 deaths and nearly 81 000 cases reported so far.
A United Nations appeal launched three weeks ago for US$164 million is only 20 per cent funded as the Haitian government, UN agencies and the humanitarian community seek to provide treatment and put preventive measures in place, supplying water purification materials, carrying out large-scale public information campaigns, and helping to build treatment centres.
“One thing is clear, admirable as they may be, these collective efforts are simply not sufficient. Without a massive and immediate international response, we will be overwhelmed. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people are at risk. And it is up to us to act, with maximum speed and full resources,” Ban said.
The appeal was repeated by Assembly President Joseph Deiss, who told the 192-member body that efforts to prevent the spread of the epidemic cannot wait.
“In the current circumstances, the international community must do everything within its power to help the Haitian authorities and people,” he said.
“Urgent action must be taken to meet the humanitarian challenges and ease the suffering of the Haitian population.”
Ban cited the urgent need for more cholera treatment centres, both large and small, and more trained medical and non-medical personnel to run them to minimise the fatality rate, which he noted had decreased over the past six weeks from 7.6 to 3.6 per cent in a country that is still reeling from an earthquake in January that killed 300 000 people and rendered about 1.3 million others homeless.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) and its regional arm, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), estimate that an additional 350 doctors,
2 000 nurses and 2 200 support staff will be required over the next three months, in addition to the 300 medical personnel that Cuba has already committed. (CMC)
