Haiti reports first cholera deaths in three years

At least seven people in Haiti have died from cholera, authorities said Sunday, raising new fears of a resurgence of the epidemic in the crisis-hit Caribbean nation.

Cholera killed about 10,000 people in the 2010 Haiti earthquake when United Nations relief workers brought it into the country.

Almost three years after the last confirmed case of the disease in Haiti, the country health The ministry said on Sunday that several suspected cases had been detected in the capital Port-au-Prince and in the coastal area of ​​Cite-Salay.

At a press conference Sunday afternoon, Laure Adrien, director general of Haiti’s health ministry, said seven to eight people had already died.

“Most of the victims died in the settlements and could not get to the hospital,” he said.

Adrien called for the removal of roadblocks set up across the country to protest recent gas price hikes to allow those infected to gain access health care facilities or reach by ambulance.

Protests and looting have rocked the already volatile country since September 11, when Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced fuel price hikes, saying the subsidies were too expensive for one of the world’s poorest states.

The Ministry of Health An earlier statement said measures were being taken to limit the spread of the virus, including investigating other possible cases, while urging people to practice increased hygiene.

During the 2010 outbreak, the first viral infections were detected around the Artibanit River, where UN peacekeepers dropped feces.

It was only in August 2016 that the UN officially acknowledged its role in the outbreak.

On Sunday, the UN said it “supports the Haitian government’s efforts to contain the cholera outbreak and take life-saving measures.”

The last positive case until Sunday was detected in 2019, and in February 2022 the Ministry of Health held a ceremony to mark the official elimination cholera in the country.

© 2022 AFP