Since May 10, cholera has reappeared in Baptiste, commune of the Central Plateau. Overwhelmed by the situation, officials of the commune health center asking for help to treat victims "The situation is becoming increasingly critical. We receive daily 3-5 people infected with cholera [...] We operate with the means at hand. We are obliged to refer some cases to Belladère [...] we do not have logistics," said Walter Elismé, administrator of the Commune health center who lamented also the insufficient staff to treat the sick, lack of drugs and equipment, including adapted beds and the cohabitation of cholera patients with other patients.
Mr. Elismé indicated that several localities are affected by the cholera epidemic, especially Louimé, Dyebabann, Cité choublak, Maguayav, Aleyan, etc. According to him, we must quickly put in place a team that will make awareness and decontamination at the nearby localities to curb the spread of the epidemic.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health confirmed the death of 8 people who had contracted cholera during the first 3 weeks of May (3 institutional deaths and 5 community) according Katilia Pierre, head of the alert service and response to the directorate of Epidemiology and Research at the Ministry adding that 1,666 cases in total were recorded in health institutions for 1,397 hospitalizations during the period 1 to 21 May. She said that 4 departments: Centre, North, Northwest and West are on red alert.
The main communes concerned by this alert include: Belladères and Mirebalais in the Centre, Grande Rivière du Nord, Milot, Pilate and Borgne in the North, Blue Basin in the Northwest and Port-au-Prince, Carrefour, Tabarre, Cabaret and Gressier in West.
If Dr. Donald François who coordinates the program against cholera tries to reassure by saying that the situation is under control and urges the citizens not to panic, Dr. Jocelyne Brunache Pierre-Louis, Health Promotion Manager and Environmental Protection at the Ministry, invites citizens to be vigilant and to apply hygiene measures, especially during the wet season, which begins June 1, to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
