Red Cross Blogs

Haiti: saving lives amidst the cholera outbreak

By Sarah Oughton
November 11, 2010 at 11:55 am

Mandy George, a Red Cross delegate in Haiti, gives a first-hand report on the developing cholera situation:

Tears roll down a young mother’s face as she rocks her child in her arms outside the Red Cross cholera observation centre in La Piste camp, Port-au-Prince. “My baby, my baby, my baby is sick,” she cries. A Red Cross volunteer asks her when the child fell ill and what his symptoms are. She decides that he is sick enough to be admitted and tells the mother to bring her baby into the observation centre to receive treatment.

The British Red Cross, along with other health care partners, set up the centre as soon as cholera became a threat in Haiti. “We were hoping for the best – not to see cholera in Port-au-Prince – but we were preparing for the worst,” says Borry Jatta, BRC hygiene promotion manager. “This camp is home to at least 50,000 people and is one of the largest in Port-au-Prince. We knew that if cholera came to the city, it would most likely come to La Piste.”

The preparation has paid off: at least 45 people with cholera-like symptoms have been admitted to the centre in the past three days and the centre is well staffed and able to cope with the volume of patients. It is divided into two parts; one is for those needing oral rehydration that they can simply drink, with most people sleeping off the worst of their sickness. The other area is for the more serious cases where patients have already become so dehydrated that they need IV treatment. Red Cross volunteers regularly patrol the centre spraying chlorine to disinfect the floor, beds, buckets and walls.

Widdine, 9, has lived with her family in La Piste since the earthquake. She was brought into the centre by her father in the middle of the night. “It was so fortunate that we could come here,” he explains. “Widdine had been vomiting and loosing fluids through diarrhoea for a couple of hours. I had already heard about cholera from the Red Cross and thought she might have it. So I brought her here and they helped her to rehydrate and looked after her. Slowly she has improved.” Widdine even manages a smile as she gets ready to go home to her shelter on the other side of the camp.

“Making sure people are aware of the symptoms is critical,” explains Borry. “People do not have to die from cholera, but they need to get treatment fast. That is why the British Red Cross has been working since the first cholera case in Haiti to drill these messages into the heads of camp residents, and let them know that they can come to us for help if they need it. Fortunately we have been able to catch quite a few cases early and save their lives.”

Others are not so fortunate. A two year old baby boy lies limp in his mothers arm. Nurses insert an IV drip. His eyes roll back, white and red, without even enough energy to keep his eyes closed. These most severe cases are sent to a nearby cholera treatment centre where they can receive more acute medical help. The parents are helped by Red Cross volunteers to load their two sick children into a waiting ambulance.

“We are afraid,” says Widinne’s father. “We are afraid to sleep in a house since the earthquake. We are afraid because we try to make a living any way we can to take care of our families, but it is hard. We are afraid because of cholera. But we are also lucky because we have somewhere we can get help. I thank God that my little girl is going to be OK.”

Find out more about how we are helping people in Haiti

Photo 1 credit: Severine Vanel/IFRC

Photo 2 credit: Mandy George/BRC

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 11th, 2010 at 11:55 am and is filed under Emergencies, International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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