Towards a total eradication of cholera in Haiti?

The cholera epidemic in Haiti started in October 2010. Since then, epidemiological monitoring has been organised at national level by various actors involved in the fight against cholera, in order to check the progress of the disease, to analyse the main vectors of contamination, identify the main sourcesand provide an adapted response to each alert.The number of patients with cholera symptoms has never been so low in seven years. Most cases are located in the Ouest, Centre and Artibonite departments, where the epidemic began. Nord, Grand’Anse and Sud departments that had been previously strongly affected, have nowadays a very low incidence of the disease.

To take advantage of these improvements, ACTED and the others actors involved in the fight against cholera are participating in a strategy at national level consisting in deploying teams in areas of persistence of the disease in order to implement a systematic response to cholera cases. In connection with the units and treatment centres, ACTED teams go to the patients’ homes and deploy a cordon sanitaire. They share messages to the families about how to prevent the disease and distribute inputs allowing them to implement these prevention recommendations : water treatment tablets (Aquatabs), oral rehydration solutions allowing a first relief of the patients before reaching a health structure, and soap. Then, the houses are decontaminated through chlorinated water.

This stratgey aims to respond as much as possible to the needs of the patients in real time, to prevent contamination and to allow the eradication of the disease.