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After 7 years, cholera cases on the decline in Haiti

Countries
Haiti
Sources
UNICEF
Publication date
Origin
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HIGHLIGHTS

Haiti continues to be affected by a convergence of humanitarian needs further worsened by hurricane Matthew. UNICEF and its partners continue to respond to humanitarian needs including in hurricane-affected areas.
Achievements in the first half of 2017 include the following:

  • The number of suspected cases of cholera continue to decline nationally with 7,626 cases reported up to June 30, 2017 compared to over 21,000 in the same period in 2016, which indicates impact that the efforts made toward ensuring effective coordination and increased number rapid response teams had to achieving progress towards the goal of eliminating cholera in Haiti.

  • 120 schools damaged by the hurricane have been rehabilitated, facilitating the return to class for more than 30,000 students. 139 schools received over 10,000 items of school furniture, and 26,000 children received psychosocial support.

  • Over 550,000 people benefited from access to safe water.

  • More than 28,000 children benefitted from psychosocial assistance and nutrition, health, and hygiene education. More than 24,000 people received information on violence, child abuse and gender based violence (GBV).

  • Over 160,000 children have been screened for malnutrition in South and Grand’Anse departments and ongoing nutrition screening shows needs are high with 7,443 acutely malnourished children admitted to the UNICEF supported CMAM programme, among which 2,343 SAM and 5,100 MAM.

Situation in Numbers

3,200,000 Total people affected (OCHA-HNO)

1,100,000 # of children in need of humanitarian assistance (UNICEF)

1,600,000 # of adults in need of humanitarian assistance (OCHA-HNO)

7,626 suspected cholera cases and 87 fatalities (MSPP – 1 Jan to 1 July 2017)

12,000 # of children in situation of vulnerability (UNICEF, OCHA-HNO)

1,400,000 # of people in need of WASH assistance (OCHA-HNO)

18,000 # of children under-5 at risk of SAM 2017 (UNICEF/HNO)

UNICEF Appeal 2017* US$ 42.8 million

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

June 1st marked the official start of the 2017 hurricane season in Haiti. The rainy season that began in April this year has resulted in floods and landslides, damage to homes and destruction of harvests, especially in the departments of South, Grand’Anse and Nippes, which were the most affected departments by hurricane Matthew. Erosion of roads have impacted access to several communes, especially in the South department. The rainy season will coincide with the hurricane season, which will affect Haiti, usually lasting until 30 November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicated to a 70 per cent probability of 11 to 17 storms, of which 5 to 9 could become hurricane including 2 to 4 major ones of category 3 to 5.

Despite the strong rainfall since April, the trend of cholera continues to decline at the national level and is currently at its lowest level since the beginning of the epidemic largely due to effective coordination and increased number of rapidresponse teams (see page 5, weekly number of cholera suspected cases). This presents an opportunity to accelerate elimination of the disease sooner than expected. However, cholera efforts are severely underfunded. Strong financial support is necessary to maintain the current levels and further lower the number of cases.

In the first six-months of 2017 and nine-months since Hurricane Matthew, Haiti has been impacted by a number of events affecting the operational environment in which UNICEF response programming took place. A new government has been installed following elections at the Presidential, Legislative and Municipal levels. The transition period has seen some turbulences, including protests related to the arrest of Senator-elect Guy Philippe in Grand’Anse. The UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is transitioning into a smaller follow-up mission and will be replaced on 15 October by the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUSJUSTH). All these events have added challenges to the operating environment. Nevertheless, UNICEF’s response to the needs of people including those affected by hurricane Matthew continues.