Been thinking a lot about sanitation lately as cholera is ravaging Haiti.
Took a few blackberry pics between here and Port Au Prince the other day.
This is WHY 50,000+ people in Haiti have/have had cholera and why it's expected to grow to more than 200,000. It's in essentially every area of the country.
Everyone is sensitive about it. Rumors abound about how it can/cannot be transmitted. (And fyi--Rumors in Haiti might as well be fact with the way people heed them.) I've read article after article about how people are dying trying to get to treatment centers because public transport won't pick them up. I read a quote from an article on CNN yesterday that said the two biggest needs right now in Haiti are doctors/nurses who know how to treat cholera and trucks to carry dead bodies.
I had a good friend of mine (a fellow ex-pat) whose (Haitian) boyfriend's father recently died suddenly in Port Au Prince with cholera-like symptoms. They did a bunch of labs. Turned out he did NOT have cholera. Still, the morgue initially wouldn't take his body. They brought the labs proving it was not cholera from which he died. They finally agreed to take the body, but had to pay double the price because of the "risk" they were assuming.
I don't know what to do to prepare. So far, Jacmel has seen few cases but it's spreading rapidly in other places in the southern peninsula so it's likely just a matter of time. I have antibiotics on hand. I have ORS and IVs for our family but I have no idea what will happen if cholera hits Jacmel with force.
We keep up with what's being said on THIS BLOG. It's discouraging but I believe it is doing an accurate job describing the situation. There are maps that show the country is covered that they regularly update.
View Overall Haiti Cholera Epidemic Map in a larger map
Individuals, schools, political candidates, NGO's... everyone is handing out information about prevention and treatment.
Not really sure what else to say, so I have to end the post with a somewhat humorous story about the efforts to curb cholera in Josiah's preschool. They are apparently pretty vigilant about sanitation there. How do I know this? Because Josiah has become the "cholera police" for our family. Any time he sees anyone with their fingers or thumb (read: Nia) in their mouth, he breaks into a speech that goes something like this:
"Madame mwen di ou pa kapab mete dwet ou nan bouch ou. Si ou fè sa, w'ap genyen mikwob ki bay ou cholera. Cholera ap bay ou GWO dyare e w' ap mouri."
Translation:
"My teacher said you can't put your fingers in your mouth. If you do that, you're going to get germs that will give you cholera. Cholera will give you LOTS of diarrhea and you will die."
Not sure if that's exactly how Josiah's teacher puts it (knowing the bluntness of Haitian demeanor, it's likely), but she's made her point one way or another. And Josiah's doing his part to advance public health in Haiti's cholera crisis.
