A clinic in Rendel, Haiti, was overflowing with cholera patients in October. The disease has killed nearly 10,000 people in Haiti since it was introduced there in 2010 by a United Nations peacekeeping force. Credit Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

nytimes.com - by Rick Gladstone - March 19, 2017

When the leader of the United Nations apologized to Haitians for the cholera epidemic that has ravaged their country for more than six years — caused by infected peacekeepers sent to protect them — he proclaimed a “moral responsibility” to make things right.

The apology, announced in December along with a $400 million strategy to combat the epidemic and “provide material assistance and support” for victims, amounted to a rare public act of contrition by the United Nations. Under its secretary general at the time, Ban Ki-moon, the organization had resisted any acceptance of blame for the epidemic, one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern times.

Since then, however, the United Nations’ strategy to fight the epidemic, which it calls the “New Approach,” has failed to gain traction.

Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti causing widespread damage in the western cities of Les Cayes and Jeremie. Photo: UN/MINUSTAH/Logan Abassi

un.org

6 March 2017 – The United Nations office dedicated to disaster risk reduction today called for urgent support to improve disaster risk management in Haiti, following a damage assessment that shows the country lost $2.7 billion, or 32 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), as a result of Hurricane Matthew six months ago.

“Hurricane Matthew revealed disturbing truths about least developed countries which lack the capacity to respond adequately to climate change and the rising intensity and frequency of weather-related disasters,” said the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Robert Glasser in a press release.

His call came on the eve of the 5th Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas, which opens in Montreal, Canada, tomorrow.

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reliefweb.int - January 25th 2017

Main Points

Humanitarian interventions are taking places in hard-to-reach areas in line with a plan to access remote locations using various means of transportation.

The recently released Real Time Evaluation (RTE) report of the international response to Hurricane Matthew recommends adjustment to the ongoing humanitarian response alongside with measures to strengthen resilience and disaster risk management in Haiti and long-term changes concerning the humanitarian system.

An increasing number of bloody diarrhea cases have been reported in Sud and Grand’Anse regions raising concern among Health actors.

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ANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES/REUTERS

The world’s humanitarian needs are growing. So is the aid gap.

huffingtonpost.com - by Jesselyn Cook - January 13, 2017

The global need for humanitarian aid has reached a level not seen since World War II. More than 128 million people in 33 countries are now affected by crises, including conflict and natural disaster . . . 

 . . . Despite the worsening nature of many of the world’s crises, internet traffic reveals “public fatigue” ― a decline in interest ― for the first time in three years, according to U.N. data. And, as the world’s humanitarian needs grow, the gap between funds needed and funds raised has widened.

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submitted by John Carroll

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2016 file photo, banana and coconut trees are bent and broken along a southern coast road near the town of Roche-a-Bateau, Haiti, left behind by Hurricane Matthew. Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Haiti are facing food shortages three months after the storm destroyed crops and livestock in the region, international aid organization Oxfam said Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)  (The Associated Press)

Associated Press - January 4, 2017

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti –  Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Haiti are facing food shortages three months after Hurricane Matthew destroyed crops and livestock in the region, an international aid organization said Wednesday.

A "very poor" harvest is expected over the next two months in the South and Grand Anse departments of the southern Haitian peninsula, an area where most people depend on subsistence farming to survive, Oxfam said in a report calling for more support for a U.N. assistance fund.

The U.N. announced it would provide $139 million in assistance to the region, but that program is underfunded by 38 percent, the aid group said.

Direct Relief staff stage hundreds of pallets bound for Haiti in the organization’s Santa Barbara warehouse on Dec. 20, 2016. The shipment, valued at $39.9 million, is the largest in the organization’s 69-year history.

directrelief.org

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Dec. 28, 2016 – Direct Relief today airlifted 82 tons of medical aid to Haiti to help treat cholera and other diseases that have spread widely since Hurricane Matthew struck in October, incapacitating the country’s already overstretched health care system.

Direct Relief’s warehouse staff worked through the holidays to prepare 258 pallets of essential medications and supplies with a wholesale value of $39.9 million. The shipment – the largest by value in Direct Relief’s 69-year history – traveled by a chartered cargo jet from Los Angeles to Port-au-Prince.

Dozens of health care companies that support Direct Relief’s humanitarian health efforts contributed the supplies, augmented by funds contributed by donors to Direct Relief specifically for Hurricane Matthew assistance.

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Image: Haitians react to tear gas fired by the police in Port-au-Prince where there were reports of demonstrations, gunshots and burning tires. Photograph: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

theguardian.com - 29 November 2016

Violent protests have erupted in Haiti as losing candidates rejected the preliminary results of an election that indicated political newcomer Jovenel Moïse would be the next president.

Moïse, a banana exporter who ran for former president Michel Martelly’s Bald Heads party, won with 55.67% of votes cast in the 20 November election, the electoral council said on Monday. The result avoids a second round run-off next year.

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New report calls for a major shift in international aid financing

CLICK HERE - REPORT - World Disasters Report 2016 - Resilience: Saving Lives Today, Investing for Tomorrow

ifrc.org - October 13, 2016

A lack of global investment in strengthening community resilience is leaving tens of millions of people exposed to predictable, preventable and catastrophic disaster risks, stresses the World Disasters Report 2016, launched today by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

According to the report, despite broad recognition that investing in resilience before a disaster can save lives and money, only 40 cents in every 100 US dollars spent on international aid is invested in preparedness and measures to reduce disaster risk.

“Investing in resilience is the best method we have for protecting the lives, livelihoods and dignity of the world’s most vulnerable people,” said IFRC Secretary General, Elhadj As Sy. “Business as usual is no longer acceptable. It will only lead to more silent suffering and deeper poverty.

crofsblogs.typepad.com - December 4th 2016

Two months after Hurricane Matthew devastated southwestern Haiti, thousands of people are still without adequate shelter, food and potable water, and some remote communities have not received assistance. 

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are witnessing a deterioration of living conditions in the heavily affected areas. In Sud and Grand’Anse departments, MSF set up mobile clinics to evaluate the general health conditions of children.

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webtv.un.org - 1 Dec 2016

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today apologized to the people of Haiti, expressing deep regret for the loss of life and suffering caused by the country’s cholera epidemic, and outlined the way forward including immediate steps to stem the outbreak and long-term support for those affected – while also highlighting the need for adequate funding of the proposal.

CLICK HERE - United Nations News Centre - UN’s Ban apologizes to people of Haiti, outlines new plan to fight cholera epidemic and help communities

CLICK HERE - Secretary-General's remarks to the General Assembly on a New Approach to Address Cholera in Haiti [Trilingual version, as delivered] [scroll down for English]

CLICK HERE - United Nations General Assembly - A new approach to cholera in Haiti - Report by the Secretary-General (16 page .PDF report)

submitted by John Carroll

un.org

30 November 2016 – The response to cholera in Haiti will be a “long and thorough battle,” but the United Nations will stand by the Haitian people and authorities, Stéphane Dujarric, the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, on the eve of the launch of the Organization's new approach to tackling the epidemic in the country.

The new approach was announced last August and will be launched by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, 1 December. It includes rapid interventions in areas where cases are reported and the prevention of future high-risk public health crises.

The new approach on cholera also focuses on people and proposes the establishment of a program of material assistance and support to Haitians directly affected by the disease.

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Image: The hospital in Beaumont was completely destroyed by Hurricane Matthew. Midwives have been deployed to serve women in areas where health systems have been devastated. © UNFPA/Eddie Wright

unfpa.org - November 28th 2016 - Vario Serant

"I was twisting in pain this Friday,” 31-year-old Emmanuella Jeanty told UNFPA, describing her labour pains. She was in Beaumont, a town in southwest Haiti where Hurricane Matthew had left a trail of devastation just one month earlier.

Life was already rough for women and their babies before the hurricane.

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Haitian nationals at a Mexican government immigration office near the port of entry between Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, and Nogales, Ariz., wait day after day for appointments with U.S. immigration agents so they can enter. As a result of the Haitian influx and a continuing surge of Central Americans on the Texas-Mexico border, the U.S. government has run out of detention space.  John Burnett/NPR

npr.org - by John Burnett - November 23, 2016

Desperate Haitian immigrants have been massing along the U.S.-Mexico border for months seeking humanitarian relief. In the past year more than 5,000 have sought entry into the United States — a 500 percent increase over the previous year . . .

 . . . But the U.S. welcome mat is gone, and the new wave of Haitians is in for a harsh reception.

The Homeland Security Department announced new rules in September. All Haitians who show up at the border without papers and who don't ask for asylum are now detained . . .

 . . . In recent months, the total number of immigrants in detention has jumped to 41,000. Normally, it's between 31,000 and 34,000.

A mother and her 7-month-old daughter sit beneath a mosquito net at a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia.  Roberto Schmidt /AFP/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Implications of insecticide resistance for malaria vector control (4 page .PDF file)

npr.org - by Jason Beaubien - November 22, 2016

. . . "there's growing evidence that mosquitoes are developing resistance to the insecticide used in the nets.

Now the World Health Organization has just completed a 5-year, 5-country study looking into whether nets might be becoming less effective."

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