While stemming the tide of the recent cholera outbreak in earthquake-ravaged Haiti may be as simple as boiled water, good handwashing and clean sewage disposal, the focus has turned instead to vaccines, the lack of availability of supplies and other developing world problems.
CNN's Dr. Sanja Gupta reported from the WHO warehouse on the stacks of hydration supplies left sitting in case the cholera spreads to the more populated capital of Port-au-Prince. Meanwhile the count of those dead of cholera has reached 300.
NPR discovered what most aid agencies already know, that vaccines are not a realistic solution to a cholera problem in Haiti.
Meanwhile, reports that cholera outbreaks are on the increase worldwide may bring more light to a disease that is easily prevented in developed countries. According to one report on a CNN blog, "Experts also say the re-emergence of cholera is connected to the increasing numbers of populations across the globe living in unsanitary conditions."
While living poor may not always make news, the impact of poverty bringing deadly disease is unfortunately a big news maker. Sanitation is the kind of knowledge that is lost after war and disaster, whether through ignorance or lack of resources. This deficit leaves weakened communities susceptible to death by lack of clean water and adequate sewage disposal. Training and education may be slow solutions in a sudden outbreak, but they are more permanent fixes.
Check out this video of how GMHC partner MAP International responded in Haiti after the January earthquake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sowN_WDwEKI&feature=player_embedded
The marked difference in supply delivery and pickup stands in contrast to the problems CNN discovered at the WHO warehouse.
This organization's response to a larger cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe is instructive.
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