Partners in Health on frontline of Haitian cholera crisis
November 8, 2010 by Eddie Scher
Skoll grantee Partners in Health is releasing updates on an almost daily basis on the cholera crisis that is affecting Haiti as it recovers from the devastating earthquake in January 2010. PIH’s network of community health workers has played a major role fighting the cholera epidemic, which has infected more than 4,000 and killed about 300 since it first broke out. PIH continues to bring media attention to the Haitian cholera crisis with coverage from Reuters, AP, USA Today, NPR, and many other news outlets. Today, PIH reports, “to the great relief of all, Hurricane Tomas passed with less destructive force than had been feared. However, heavy rains greatly exacerbated miserable conditions and heightened cholera risks throughout Haiti.” Photos on the PIH website show the how flooding, inadequate shelter, and sanitation problems in settlement camps are a potentially lethal combination.
For more than two decades, the community health team—including community health workers, social workers and community health educators—has made up the backbone of PIH’s approach to providing high-quality health care to poor communities in Haiti. Trained and employed by PIH, these citizens serve as a vital link between health centers and villages by regularly monitoring patients, delivering medicine, providing social and emotional support, finding sick neighbors and accompanying them to the hospital, and educating their communities.