UNITED NATIONS – President Jovenel Moise has called on the international community to provide the funding needed to help the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country deal with the cholera epidemic.
Addressing a round table discussion at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Moise said that while significant progress had been made since the epidemic was first reported in 2010, the disease continues to claim victims in Haiti.
He said much funds are needed if the country is to eradicate the disease completely by 2022.
“I am advocating to the UN General Assembly to remind the urgency of continuing international funding to defeat cholera. We will need an estimated US$390 million if we really want to end this epidemic by 2022,” he said, adding that Haiti had a plan that is already operational to eradicate cholera.
“If the resources provided are available to us, the elimination of the disease will be within our reach,’ Moise said, recalling that the US$390 million request corresponds to the United Nations multi-partner trust fund for cholera in Haiti, which was launched in December 2016 by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
But Moise told the meeting that despite the repeated calls of the former secretary general and his successor, Antonio Guterres, only two per cent of the promises made by international donors have been met.
The fund has two main components including establishing a new strategy to develop a programme of material assistance and support to Haitians most directly affected by cholera as well as reducing the incidence of cholera, while addressing short- and long-term water, sanitation and health system improving access to care and treatment.
The cholera outbreak here is being blamed on United Nations peacekeepers deployed from Nepal.
The authorities have said more than 10 000 people have died since the first case was reported in October 2010 and several hundred thousand others have been sickened by the disease. (CMC)
