PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 2 (Portal) – Haiti said on Sunday at least seven people have died from cholera in a surprise return of the disease, which occurs when the nation is paralyzed by a gang blockade resulting in a lack of fuel and cleanliness drink water.
The disease killed about 10,000 people in a 2010 outbreak blamed on a United Nations peacekeeping force. The Pan American Health Organization in 2020 said Haiti had gone a year with no confirmed cases of cholera.
“According to the information we have, the number of deaths is around 7 to 8,” Health Department director-general Laure Adrien said during a news conference, adding that officials are struggling to get information from hospitals.
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“There was one death during the day today.”
The Health Ministry previously confirmed a case in the Port-au-Prince area and that there were suspected cases in the town of Cite Soleil outside the capital, which was the scene of violent gang wars in July.
Gangs have been blockading the country’s main fuel port since last month in protest at last month’s announcement of a fuel price hike. Many hospitals have suspended or reduced operations due to a lack of fuel for generators.
Simple transit is now impossible for most citizens.
The Caribbean Bottling Company, a major supplier of bottled water, said Sunday it could no longer produce and distribute water as it ran out of diesel fuel, which is vital to its supply chain.
Cholera causes uncontrollable diarrhea.
The disease is typically spread through water contaminated with a sick person’s feces, meaning clean drinking water is crucial to preventing its spread.
Troops from Nepal, where cholera is endemic, were in Haiti as part of a UN peacekeeping force established in 2004 after the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The strength of the armed forces was increased after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
The United Nations apologized for the outbreak in 2016 without claiming responsibility.
An independent panel appointed by then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a report in 2011 that did not conclusively determine how cholera was introduced to Haiti.
Panel members independently published an article in 2013 that concluded that UN peacekeeping mission staff were “the most likely source”.
(This story has been refiled to add the officer’s name.)
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reporting from Harold Isaac in Port-au-Prince and Brian Ellsworth in Caracas; Editing by Grant McCool and Diane Craft
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