With around 100 cases per week, Haiti has never been so close to eliminating the cholera epidemic. Seven years after the epidemic began, joint research unit 912 SESSTIM is still engaged in this combat, in partnership with Unicef, APHM, and the Pierre Louis Public Health Institute, in service of the Haitian authorities.
Haiti suffered a massive cholera epidemic in 2010. As part of the National Plan to Eliminate Cholera, the Haitian government, Unicef and other international partners introduced an intervention strategy from 2013. This strategy is based on the “WaSH” response (water, sanitation and hygiene), and allows mobile teams to quickly target the affected communities. In order to monitor the evolution of the epidemic, an alert system (red, orange, green) has also been introduced throughout the whole country.
IRD researchers and their partners studied the implementation and efficacy of this response from 2013 to 2017. In particular, they demonstrated an increase in clean water actions, decontamination of houses, and information for people in the event of orange and red alerts.
CetThis national strategy, combined with longer term clean water projects, seems essential in combating the disease in Haiti.