Haiti cholera outbreak Flashcards
What is the plate boundary that caused the magnitude 7.0 earthquake on the 10th of January 2010 in Haiti?
Collision of North American and Caribbean plates at a strike-slip fault
What is Haiti’s level of development?
Before 2010 considered poorest country in the western hemisphere - 80% living below the poverty line, lowest HDI in the Americas
Only 40% with access to basic healthcare, and that was before the earthquake
What were some direct impacts of the earthquake?
200,000 died
1 in 3 buildings collapsed - poorly built and not “life-safe” - inadequate construction
1.5 million left homeless - people searching for their possessions and materials to build temporary shelters in the rubble after the earthquake
Capital city (Port-au-prince) in ruins - over 2 million lived there
Soft sediment amplified earthquake, leading to more devastating damage
When and how did the cholera outbreak occur?
10 months after the earthquake - after not being present in Haiti for over 100 years
Brought by Nepalese aid workers who were working to rebuild infrastructure after the earthquake
Over 500,000 cases were reported
Official death toll 9,600 but estimates closer to 30,000
What is cholera?
A water-borne bacterial infection of the small intestine
Causes vomiting and diarrhoea, which can lead to severe dehydration
What were the human factors affecting the spread of the disease?
Brought by UN aid workers from Nepal - spread in river water and from person to person - UN did not take responsibility for the epidemic until 2016
Lack of infrastructure (after earthquake) meant people were brought very close together and had little sanitation or clean running water, so disease spread incredibly rapidly, causing an epidemic - even before outbreak only 17% had access to proper latrines
People resorted to drinking from stagnant wells in which the disease had infected the water, meaning people contracted cholera and passed it on to others in close proximity, worsening the epidemic
Lack of immunity in population as disease had not been endemic for over 100 years prior
Migration of escaping people carried disease with them, spreading it further
Unsuccessful mitigation strategies - government campaign for washing hands and sanitation, president on TV to launch education campaign, treatment centres attacked with rocks by locals fearing infected patients and the unknown - struggle to set up treatment centres (e.g. MSF) - lead to further ad more rapid diffusion of disease as people could not be treated
Some successful strategies, e.g. oral rehydration therapy carried out by MSF, cholera vaccine in 2012, international aid - UN $400 million over 3 years following earthquake
Deforestation worsened flooding during rainy season
What were the environmental factors affecting the spread of the disease?
Rainy season worsened epidemic as is water-borne disease (April-June, August-October) - island 90% deforested - lead to flooding in rainy season, worsening conditions
Rainfall and flooding help spread contaminated water and transfer it between locations
People living along rivers (e.g. Artibonite river), lakes and other water sources very susceptible to contraction of the disease as it is carried and accumulates in these vectors
Cholera spreads very quickly in warmer tropical climates, such as that in Haiti
Hurricane Tomas (2010) and Sandy (2012) furthered spread and worsened living conditions and sanitation
What were the national responses to minimise the impacts of the outbreak?
2 aims - save lives, stop further spread of disease
National:
National surveillance system established to track cases of the disease
Specialised cholera treatment centres set up across Haiti in late 2010 (to treat specifically cholera and increase efficiency and relieve overburdened hospitals) - these were overwhelmed with patients
Mobile medical units deployed to more remote regions of the country
Oral rehydration therapy centres for less serious symptoms
More training for cholera treatments in local hospitals and clinics
Widespread health awareness campaign to promote personal hygiene, hand-washing and skills such as building secure latrines
Overall successful as infection rates plummeted in 2011 and mortality decreased from 10% in October 2010 to less than 1% from January 2011 onwards
What were the international strategies to mitigate the cholera outbreak?
Large-scale response from the UNI , international aid organisations and medical relief groups
NGOs such as the British Red Cross and Medicines Sana Frontieres
