Does anyone else find it slightly mystifying that the UN is demanding even more millions now to deal with the current cholera crisis in Haiti? The earthquake was now 10 months ago, and yet again the funds poured in have already been enormous. Cholera, despite the fear it often conjures up, is actually a fairly simple disease to deal with ; to prevent it , give people clean water, toilets, and soap. For treatment, rest and rehydration with a simple sugar and salt solution. If the UN and the myriad of other agencies in Haiti cannot cope with this relatively simple problem without shrieking for yet more ‘emergency funds’, it raises serious questions about their planning, spending, and their previous ‘ work’ in this country. Given the earthquake and the resulting disruption in a densely populated country, it should have been ( and was ! ) obvious that a cholera epidemic was a distinct possibility . Given the poverty before the earthquake, enough NGO’s should have aided Haitians on this topic already, and other basic health and sanitation measures.
Basic sanitation is arguably the key component in maintaining health and extending life expectancy. The simple, yet groundbreaking discovery that germs cause disease was probably the greatest driver of population growth in the last century. If cholera wasn’t discussed repeatedly in the endless series of expensive ‘workshops’ that permeatated the NGO sector in Haiti, it should have been. If it was, perhaps in retrospect less money should have been spent on t-shirts and lunch allowances, and more money on actual demonstrations on how to save your life with a bit of sugar, salt and water and some preventative soap. What exactly have the UN and the NGO’s being doing in Haiti in the past ten months ? More worryingly for the international development model, what exactly have the UN and NGO’s been doing in Haiti in the past ten years ?
