Haiti: The Suffering Overflows

Forgive that this diary is too short.

The New York Times his evening is reporting that the cholera epidemic in Haiti is growing rapidly:

The death toll in Haiti’s cholera epidemic has reached more than 900, the government reported Sunday, as aid groups rushed soap and clean water to a disaster-wracked population to fight the disease.

The Ministry of Health reported that as of Friday, there had been 917 deaths and more than 14,600 were hospitalized with cholera-like symptoms. That is up from the 724 deaths and 11,125 hospitalizations reported a few days before.

The disease has been found in 6 of Haiti’s 10 provinces, known as departments, and is most severe where it originated, in Artibonite, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of the deaths.

Several epidemiologists have said the disease has not peaked and will likely worsen and break out in other regions of the country, with United Nations health officials estimating about 270,000 may be sickened in the coming years.

And the disease has clearly arrived in Port au Prince, where hundreds of thousands still are living in tents or under tarps or are homeless:

Hospitals in Port-au-Prince, where more than one million earthquake refugees live in congested, squalid tent encampments, are overflowing with patients exhibiting cholera symptoms, and the death toll there has reached 27. The disease was first reported in the capital on Nov. 8.

President René Préval, at a conference on the disease on Sunday in Port-au-Prince, urged people to wash their hands frequently and drink only potable water, The Associated Press reported. But even before the earthquake, most of the population lacked access to clean water and sanitation.

There is very little you and I can do about this other than stand by in horror and watch thousands of people die of the disease. What we can do is two things: we can make a donation to ngo's who are on the scene providing medicine and care for stricken people. I recommend Doctors Without Borders, but there are many other ngo's doing exemplary work in Haiti.

And we can get on the phones and send email and write letters urging our congresspersons to make sure that the 1.15 billion appropriated after the January earthquake is actually delivered to Haiti. There is an immediate need for $170 million for cholera care; that could be eased if the US funds are released.

I am sorry that I didn't provide you with links. And I am sorry that I have been writing basically the same diary for the past week with little attention. It is the least I can do. All that remains is to offer prayers for the health and safety of Haiti's people.

Haiti: UN Appeals For Aid, US Sits On Wallet

Haiti is in need of millions of dollars to combat the cholera epidemic, but the US is still holding back $1.15 billion in Aid that has already been appropriated. It's time to tell your congress members to stop sitting on the wallet and get that money to Haiti, where it's urgently needed.

AFP today reports on the need for $164 million in aid to combat the cholera epidemic in Haiti:

GENEVA — The United Nations on Friday appealed for nearly 164 million dollars in aid to tackle cholera in Haiti and avoid being "overrun" by the growing epidemic.

"We hope we can get this otherwise all our efforts will be overrun by the epidemic," said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Byrs said UN, other aid agencies and Haiti's health ministry needed 163.8 million dollars for a strategy to stifle the sudden epidemic, which has infected more than 11,000 people and killed 724 since last month.

The strategy drawn up by the UN "anticipates up to 200,000 people to show symptoms of cholera ranging from cases of mild diarrhoea to the most severe dehydration" over a period of about six months, OCHA and the World Health Organisation said.

That's an urgent need for $163.8 million dollars.

The US previously appropriated $1.15 billion dollars in aid for Haiti, but guess what? That money has not been delivered. In other words, the funds needed to combat the cholera epidemic are already appropriated in the US but Congress is sitting on the wallet and the aid has not been delivered. That means that unless the US releases these funds, aid for fighting the cholera epidemic has to come from elsewhere.

Yesterday's Miami Herald Editorial, which is worth reading in its entirety because it describes the situation in Haiti fully, made the point about these funds clearly:

President Obama can send a signal by calling for lawmakers to move quickly to allow disbursement of $1.15 billion in reconstruction money for Haiti. The president signed a bill approving the money last July, but the funds remain stuck on Capitol Hill while lawmakers quibble over the details of a spending plan.

I agree with that. I haven't heard the President or anybody in government call for the immediate release of these funds. So yesterday I wrote requesting that all of us immediately email and phone and write our congresspersons to demand the release of these funds. Yesterday the silence that resulted from this was disturbing. You'd think we'd want to get these funds released.

So I am trying again today and sending the same message:

It's simple what to do. Email or call your Senators and Congresspersons. Ask them, please, to make sure that these funds get released.

Here's my email, that I sent to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand:

I am deeply concerned that the cholera epidemic in Haiti endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and that US aid to the country is bogged down and has not been received. The Congress appropriated more than $1 billion for aid to Haiti after the earthquake earlier this year. Today's Miami Herald Editorial notes, "President Obama can send a signal by calling for lawmakers to move quickly to allow disbursement of $1.15 billion in reconstruction money for Haiti. The president signed a bill approving the money last July, but the funds remain stuck on Capitol Hill while lawmakers quibble over the details of a spending plan." I am writing because I want you to do whatever is in your power to get this aid delivered to Haiti. This aid is already long overdue. And receipt of this aid in Haiti is urgently needed to save lives.

Please pitch in. I don't want to sit here and watch this cholera epidemic unfold without a major effort to stop it.

The small act of writing or calling Congress can save thousands of lives in Haiti. Please join me in getting these funds released.

Haiti: Time To Email And Call Congress

Enough. I've been writing for the past week, daily, because I'm concerned that the cholera outbreak in Haiti endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and especially threatens the more than a million Haitians who are living in tents or under tarps in Port au Prince and elsewhere in the country.

This morning's Miami Herald Editorial captures exactly what needs to be said in the US about this impending public health disaster:

As of Wednesday, cholera had claimed at least 583 lives and sickened more than 9,000, according to the Health Ministry. Frantic aid workers are fighting to keep the outbreak from spreading into congested earthquake survivor camps in Port-au-Prince.

This is misery piled upon misery, part of the burden of history in a country where natural disasters are practically a chronic affliction. But this time around Haiti's problems have been compounded by the inexcusably slow pace of recovery and reconstruction.

Ten months after the earthquake, more than one million people still live under plastic sheeting, vulnerable to rainstorms and other menaces. Security in these camps is woefully lacking.
Much of the devastation, meanwhile, has not been cleaned up. Mountains of rubble are evident wherever the earthquake hit. So far, only 5 percent has been removed, far short of the amount that could reasonably have been expected. Bureaucratic delays in disbursing available funds are a major reason for the lack of progress.

These are basic relief tasks that have been left undone. Tireless work by an army of relief workers has stabilized the situation, but the cholera epidemic threatens to undo their efforts.
The reasons for the shaky start are not hard to fathom -- the scale of the devastation, widespread poverty, an ineffective government that suffered a crippling blow when the earthquake destroyed virtually all of the federal buildings and killed thousands of public employees.
But that was, we repeat, 10 months ago. Humanitarian emergencies are never easy to cope with, particularly an off-the-charts disaster like the one that rocked Haiti. Yet despite an encouraging international response at the outset and promises of coordination and cooperation at all levels, the effort has bogged down.

You already know that. The editorial then repeats something I have been saying since the first news of cholera was reported and which is the reason we now need to take action:

President Obama can send a signal by calling for lawmakers to move quickly to allow disbursement of $1.15 billion in reconstruction money for Haiti. The president signed a bill approving the money last July, but the funds remain stuck on Capitol Hill while lawmakers quibble over the details of a spending plan.

It's simple what to do. Email or call your Senators and Congresspersons. Ask them, please, to make sure that these funds get released.

Here's my email, that I sent to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand:

I am deeply concerned that the cholera epidemic in Haiti endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and that US aid to the country is bogged down and has not been received. The Congress appropriated more than $1 billion for aid to Haiti after the earthquake earlier this year. Today's Miami Herald Editorial notes, "President Obama can send a signal by calling for lawmakers to move quickly to allow disbursement of $1.15 billion in reconstruction money for Haiti. The president signed a bill approving the money last July, but the funds remain stuck on Capitol Hill while lawmakers quibble over the details of a spending plan." I am writing because I want you to do whatever is in your power to get this aid delivered to Haiti. This aid is already long overdue. And receipt of this aid in Haiti is urgently needed to save lives.

Please pitch in. I don't want to sit here and watch this cholera epidemic unfold without a major effort to stop it.

Haiti: Cholera Epidemic Grows

The news from Haiti continues to be simply awful. The cholera epidemic that started elsewhere has now reached the Haitian capital, Port Au Prince, where it threatens the 1.5 million people who were displaced by the recent earthquake. "Displaced" is a sanitary way of describing the squalor of terrible living conditions which only foster the spread of the disease.

The epidemic threatens the lives of people who suffered so much in the earthquake and who then survived the rain and flooding caused by Hurricane Tomas. Even before these natural disasters, Haiti was wracked by hunger, poor infrastructure, high infant mortality, short life span, poverty and disease. Now weakened people face the onslaught of a cholera epidemic.


The Miami Hearald reports:

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- With 73 people hospitalized for cholera in this quake-battered capital, the epidemic is spreading and has officially made its way into Haiti's largest city.

``We are on a rise,'' said Christian Lindmeier, spokesman for the World Health Organization in Haiti. ``The figures will climb.''

The cholera death toll now stands at 583, and 9,123 Haitians have been hospitalized with acute diarrhea, Haiti's health ministry said Tuesday.

The increase comes amid fears that flooding from last week's Hurricane Tomas will trigger more hospitalizations and even more deaths from the illness that is spread by drinking contaminated water.
Haitian government health officials acknowledged that the epidemic is evolving and has not yet peaked.

The Ministry of Health says the obvious, that the situation "is now a matter of national security." There's no doubt about that:

The spread of the disease to Port-au-Prince is worrisome because the overcrowded capital is not only home to most of the 1.5 million people displaced by the Jan. 12 earthquake and still living in tents or under tarps but also to hundreds of thousands of other people living without access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation.

Among those who have become ill are 115 people who sought treatment at a hospital in Cité Soleil, a teeming slum in the capital, Timothee said. Officials say they are still awaiting lab results to see if the patients have cholera or another illness that causes similar symptoms.

What emerges is a dreadful picture of widespread, unmitigated suffering of the Haitian people.

What is to be done about this? As I wrote yesterday and the day before,

Two things are clear: all US aid that was appropriated for Haiti, more than a billion dollars, needs to be freed up and delivered there. And it is also a good time to make contributions to organizations that aid Haiti. I recommend Doctors Without Borders.

I am horrified by what I see approaching in Haiti and the scale of human suffering that it portends. I continue to write about this, but I feel like Cassandra, that I combine insight into the future with utter helplessness.

Haiti: Cholera Found in Port Au Prince

As feared, Cholera appears to have arrived in Port Au Prince, Haiti. A first confirmed case has now been reported: the 3 year-old child with the disease had not left Port Au Prince. This outbreak is a major threat to millions of people. The report:

Haiti's cholera outbreak has spread to the capital Port-au-Prince, putting the lives of millions of homeless people at risk.

Health authorities said a three-year-old boy who has not left the city in the last year had caught the disease....

More than 100 suspected cases of cholera among residents of the capital are being investigated.
The outbreak has already killed at least 544 people in other areas of Haiti, according to health ministry executive director Gabriel Timothee.

He said many of the patients in hospital in Port-au-Prince are believed to have recently arrived from the Artibonite Valley, an agricultural area where more than 6,400 of Haiti's known 8,138 cases have been recorded.

The water-borne disease had never been reported in Haiti before its appearance last month.

The earthquake in Haiti demolished much of the weak infrastructure of that impoverished country. Even before the earthquake, sanitation and drinking water and food were major concerns. The earthquake made conditions far worse, evicting thousands form substandard housing and pushing them into make shift tent and shack encampmets in the capital. Then Tomas arrived. The storm brought intense rain and flooding, which seems to have overwhelmed the city's remaining sanitation systems. The street reek. Excrement is everywhere. It was only a matter of time in these conditions before the disease emerged.

Haiti's suffering continues. And now, there is an even greater risk to the lives of Haitians in the capital. As I wrote just yesterday,

Two things are clear: all US aid that was appropriated for Haiti, more than a billion dollars, needs to be freed up and delivered there. And it is also a good time to make contributions to organizations that aid Haiti. I recommend Doctors Without Borders.

Haiti: The Threat Of Cholera Continues

Hurricane Tomas could have been significantly worse. The storm moved slightly to the West; it didn't strike Port au Prince directly. Twenty people were killed. The news is reporting that fewer than 6,000 more people were rendered homeless by the storm. Against a backdrop of long term, pervasive suffering, the Hurricane did not harm as many as was feared. But now, amid all of the misery, another threat looms. Will the flooding make the cholera epidemic in Haiti even worse? CNN reports:

Experts feared Monday that the hurricane that battered Haiti over the weekend could worsen the outbreak of cholera that has killed hundreds of people and hospitalized thousands since it began last month.

The official death toll attributed to the outbreak was 544, with more than 8,000 confirmed cases, Health Minister Alex Larsen told CNN Monday.

Though no cases have been confirmed in Port-au-Prince, tests were being carried out on 91 residents of the capital -- all of whom live in or near the city's densely populated Cite Soleil slum, Larsen said. Except for one person who died over the weekend, all the others have recovered, he said.

Hurricane Tomas' trek past Haiti killed 20 people and injured another 36, a Communications Ministry official said Monday. Seven people were missing and 5,954 were homeless, the official said.

Health officials fear that the water dumped by the storm will worsen the outbreak. The concern is that overflow from latrines and septic tanks could contaminate the supply of fresh drinking water and contribute to the spread of the bacteria.

In the capital, the canals were not overflowing, said American Red Cross spokeswoman Andrea Koppel. But that was not the case in cities west of the capital, which bore the brunt of Hurricane Tomas, she said.

Still, even Port-au-Prince looks and smells like a dump -- a caldron of water, garbage and human waste. "We get used to it," said one resident.

It is extremely difficult to grasp how horrible conditions in Haiti truly are. Even before the recent earthquake, conditions were simply dreadful: poor sanitation, lack of clean water, widespread disease, gnawing poverty, pervasive hunger, high infant mortality, on and on and on. Haiti is by far the poorest country in this hemisphere. And this is nothing new. In 2008 the New York Times ran an article implying that conditions were so bad many Haitians wished they were still under the heal of the Duvaliers. That speaks eloquently to desperation.

The earthquake, of course, brought Haiti to a new level of national misery. And now Hurricane Tomas has made its own contribution to increasing Haiti's suffering. Has all of this brought Haiti now to the threshold of a huge cholera plague?

Two things are clear: all US aid that was appropriated for Haiti, more than a billion dollars, needs to be freed up and delivered there. And it is also a good time to make contributions to organizations that aid Haiti. I recommend Doctors Without Borders.

Haiti: Yet Another Disaster Lurks

Hasn't Haiti suffered enough? Centuries of grotesque exploitation and purposeful neglect. And most recently, the devastating earthquake. Then an inadequate relief effort that has left thousands and thousands homeless or stuck in makeshift, flimsy camps, without adequate housing, food, medicine or sanitation. An outbreak of Cholera. And now, on top of all of that, the unimaginable: a possible Hurricane this week. And a very big one at that.

The model predicts the storm will make a right turn. In fact, almost all of the models say it will make a right turn. And when it does, it will come ashore in Haiti. This will cause loss of life, flooding, further outbreaks of disease, loss of even temporary shelter, unavailability of food. A nightmare for those living in Haiti.

I've asked before that we contribute to Doctors Without Borders, specifically for Haiti Aid. Now I'm asking again. What else can be done? What else can I or you do?

Money for specialized aid is extremely important. As important, and perhaps more important in the long run, I think is for US citizens to being to know Haiti's history and the story of its relationship to the US, in other words, the story of how it got to be the way it is now. I'm sure we all realize that Haiti didn't get to its present horrendous situation all by its self, without a lot of US and European "help." To ferret how all of this has happened, a great starting point is this dailyKos essay by allie123. It's part of a series. Each piece is important on its own. Please take the time to read them.

For now, though, please consider an immediate, small donation to Doctors Without Borders. It might save some lives in Haiti. It might alleviate some of the suffering.

Death In The Time Of Cholera

Haiti, ravaged for centuries and suffering long before its enormous, destructive earthquake, now braces for a huge cholera epidemic. The cholera epidemic on Saturday had already killed more than 200 and there are more than 2600 reported cases. Today the news is still bad. The NY Times reports:

Diarrhea, while a common ailment here, is a symptom of cholera. And anxiety has been growing fiercely that the cholera epidemic, which began last week in the northwest of Haiti, will soon strike the earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.

“It travels with the speed of lightning, I’ve heard, and it can kill a person in four hours,” said Jean Michel Maximilien, a camp leader. “So of course we are all on edge.”

For now, the cholera outbreak, with more than 250 deaths and more than 3,100 confirmed cases, has been contained to the central rural regions around the Artibonite River, 60 miles north of the capital. But Port-au-Prince is tensely preparing for its arrival in the densely populated slums and tent camps here, with treatment centers being established, soap and water purification tablets being distributed and public safety announcements stressing hygiene. ...

Since the January earthquake, this devastated country has been bracing for a secondary disaster — a hurricane, an eruption of violence, an outbreak of disease. But nobody anticipated that cholera would make its first appearance in 50 years. It was “the one thing we thought we were relatively safe on,” said Imogen Wall, spokeswoman for the United Nations humanitarian coordination office.

Because so many in Haiti teeter on the brink, and because a cholera epidemic in Port au Prince and the rest of that beleaguered nation can be so horrible, this is a good time to make a small donation to Doctors Without Borders, who are already on the scene and providing treatment.

And then there's Philip Roth's most recent book, Nemesis, that explores a polio epidemic in Newark, New Jersey in 1944. I finished reading it last night; I had read the reviews when it came out earlier this month. If like me you know Newark, and particularly the Weequahic area, the book brings back memories of the 50's and early '60's. And Bucky, the main character, is as familiar to you as any other kid you played stickball with. If you don't know that particular Newark, maybe you don't quite get the book in the same way.

The epidemic in Newark, like the threatening one in Haiti, has its many mysteries. Nobody knows exactly how it is spread. Nobody knows what to do to stop it. Flight seems a good idea, until the disease and death arrive anyway. There is seemingly no escape. There is no way to predict who will become ill and who will be untouched and who will die. And in Haiti the options, because of the grinding poverty are far fewer. Treatment will remain mostly unavailable. There will be many more fatalities even if the outbreak can be isolated in Antibonite. What a horror.

My heart goes out to Haiti. And to those who are there now. May the epidemic be contained. May they all be well.

Please make a donation to Doctors Without Borders. This can help.