Fighting Cholera on All Fronts in Haiti
IOM has distributed urgently needed medical supplies to health
facilities as part of its multi-pronged response to fight the
cholera epidemic in Haiti.
IOM Health teams have distributed 1,200 beds, 1,680 units of IV
fluid and thousands of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) sachets to
departments around the country. These activities are being rapidly
scaled up including the establishment of rehydration points in
camps and border areas, the assessment and mapping of
treatment centres, and the large-scale distribution of personal
protective equipment for health workers and auxiliary staff, with
support from the US Agency for International Development's Office
of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Irish Aid.
IOM efforts to prevent cholera breaking out in areas so far
untouched include the distribution of aquatabs and soap to the
entire Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. A donation by IOM
partner Americares of 750,000 Oral Rehydration Solution sachets
essential for the treatment of victims of the disease will
also soon be delivered in support of these activities.
Links
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As part of its Camp Coordination, Camp Management (CCCM)
responsibilities, particular focus has been given by the
Organization to camps for the internally displaced (IDPs) where
water or sanitation services have not been provided. These camps
are being prioritized for urgent attention and the provision of
facilities to prevent further spread of the disease amongst the
vulnerable. As a result, some 2 million aquatabs and 10,000 boxes
of urgently needed soap are being distributed by IOM to these
camps.
IOM has also increased its capacity to distribute non-food items
and is receiving donations from a range of partners, which are
processed, logged and rapidly shipped to areas in need of
assistance or made available to humanitarian partners, public
hospitals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and others to
facilitate their activities in the field.
IOM is also working closely with mayors' offices across the
capital to facilitate distributions and is complementing this work
with hygiene promotion training for community members in camps and
rural communities in order to help avoid people getting sick.
The Organization is also working with the Ministry of Health to
set up and train community health agents as a sort of cholera
fighting brigade. They would be deployed in under-serviced IDP
camps, rural communities and at several border locations.
Haiti's historically poor infrastructure and a lack of available
maps have exposed a critical need for quality mapping of local
services such as health facilities. Since the earthquake on
12 January, IOM has been working to create open-source mapping
teams which now crisscross the country, charting and assessing
usable infrastructure on behalf of all humanitarian actors.
IOM mapping efforts have so far logged hundreds of schools and
clinics in Cité Soleil, the urban slum where cholera has
taken hold. The team has generated essential maps of water points,
to speed the delivery of chlorinated supplies and sent missions to
regions including Gonaives, Leogane and Jacmel.
Delivery of IOM humanitarian assistance is supported by a mass
communications campaign that includes extensive use of text
messaging, distributions of posters on cholera prevention,
door-to-door visits and a radio show recorded daily in IDP
camps.
The radio programme is distributed through the 41-station RAMAK
community radio network, which is broadcast nationwide and which
has the capacity to reach 81 per cent of Haiti's population. The
radio stations are being networked through the website
CitizenHaiti.org (SitwayenAyiti.org in Creole) which will enable
live broadcasting of radio shows and podcasting of recorded
material in some of Haiti's most vulnerable communities, whether
urban slums or remote, rural villages.
The community radio stations are further supported by
individualized blogs streaming locally generated real-time
commentary and questions from the community. Through a toll free
number, callers may ask or text questions about cholera or other
issues of importance. These are then streamed to the community
radio studios to generate debate and discussion.
A special edition of IOM Haiti's graphic cartoon newspaper for
IDPs is being printed this week on the subject of cholera
prevention, in close coordination with the Haitian government.
Named Chimen Lakay or, "The Way Home" in Creole, the manga-style
comic is drawn by the noted Haitian graphic artist Chevelin Pierre
and targets people of low literacy levels. More than 50
percent of Haitians are estimated to be illiterate. The paper has
an initial print run of 200,000 and will be distributed in the most
vulnerable communities of Haiti, including the 1,300 IDP camps.
For further information contact:
Leonard Doyle
IOM Haiti
Tel: + 509 370 25066
E-mail:
"mailto:ldoyle@iom.int">ldoyle@iom.int