The cholera epidemic has now killed 283 people in Haiti and is spreading throughout the territory, the UN was alarmed on Thursday, emphasizing the worrying scale of humanitarian needs in the poor Caribbean country.
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“The cholera epidemic continues to worry the country and us. The number of cases continues to rise, with 283 deaths and nearly 12,000 hospitalizations,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti Ulrika Richardson said during a news conference. By mid-November, the number was 161 dead and more than 7,500 hospitalized.
Another “worrying trend,” “what we’re seeing is not only a continued increase in the number of cholera cases, but also a spread across the regions, with 8 out of 10 departments having confirmed cases,” she said.
In mid-November, the UN launched an appeal to raise $145.6 million to fight the epidemic. To date, “only 16%” or 23.5 million has been pledged, noted Ulrika Richardson.
But in a country devastated by gang violence, humanitarian needs go beyond the sole issue of this resurgence in cholera, which killed more than 10,000 between 2010 and 2019.
So while one in two Haitians does not have enough to eat, the UN is preparing a humanitarian plan for 2023 worth $719 million, almost double the amount for 2022 due to rampant insecurity.”
The gangs, which control “nearly 60% of the capital,” use sexual violence as a weapon “with frightening intensity to keep the population under their control,” she said.