American Red Cross Disaster Newsroom

Haiti – The American Red Cross is extremely concerned about an outbreak of cholera in northern Haiti, and is assisting in the rapid response by the Red Cross network. As of Friday morning, there are approximately 1,600 cases and 158 deaths reported following an outbreak of acute diarrhea in the Artibonite and Central Plateau regions of Haiti. This is not an area directly affected by the earthquake of January 12th, but we are concerned about the speed with which this outbreak has spread.

On Friday morning, the Ministry of Health said tests had confirmed the disease outbreak is cholera. Contaminated river water is the suspected source, as most of the cases have occurred in an area stretching from north-central to north-west Haiti along the Artibonite River. The towns of Mirebalais and St Marc have been most severely affected.

The Red Cross network has launched a rapid and coordinated response. On Wednesday, October 20 a Red Cross truck loaded with medical supplies was sent to a hospital in St Marc that is handling many of the cases. These supplies include IV fluids, oral serum, antibiotics, first aid kits, and water filters.

On Friday, October 22, another two trucks are departing Port au Prince carrying 31,000 liters of clean water, chlorine, cholera kits, surgical masks and gloves, aquatabs, as well as large tents and sleeping mats to increase the hospital’s capacity. Teams of Red Cross health and water/sanitation experts are standing by to assist as needed.

The American Red Cross, which is running the largest health promotion effort in the camps of Port-au-Prince, has offered support by making available it health and water/sanitation experts, and has been asked to provide large quantities of chlorine to support the operation of water treatment plants.

As of Thursday, October 21, the Red Cross network began sending SMS text messages to people in the affected region advising them on good hygiene and sanitation practices. Two text messages per day will be sent to the affected region for at least several days.

In an effort to control the spread of disease, the government has also imposed a sanitary cordon around the affected area.

The Red Cross is working closely with the government’s Ministry of Health and Department of Civil Protection to support local health and water systems in response to this outbreak. The Red Cross is also coordinating its response with the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations in Haiti.