ARTICLE - UN HAITI LOGISTICS CLUSTER

SITUATION UPDATE NO. 01 - UN HAITI LOGISTICS CLUSTER - HAITI CHOLERA CRISIS

. Government Officials confirmed a Cholera outbreak in the Département Artibonite.

• The Ministry of Health reported the worst-affected areas were Douin, Marchand Dessalines and areas around Saint-Marc, approximately 100km (60miles) north of Port-au-Prince.

• More than 1,500 people are reported to be sick. The diseased suffer from severe diarrhea, which leads to extreme and rapid dehydration, which led to death in at least 141 cases so far.

• The Artibonite River is likely to be the source for the outbreak, after recent heavy rains spurred its banks to overflow and flooded the area.

• The Ministry of Health will initiate a public campaign to notify the public how to employ good hygiene to prevent the spread and to protectlives.

Response

• The response is being coordinated by the Ministry of Health, the Direction Nationale de l'Eau Potable et Assainissement (DINEPA), the Health Cluster and the Wash Cluster.

• A crisis cell has been established at WHO/Promess in Port-au-Prince, in order to coordinate the response in Artibonite. Representatives from the Health and the WASH Cluster, including their Government counterparts (Ministry of Health and DINEPA), as well as the Logistics Cluster and OCHA are part of the coordination cell.

• The Haitian Red Cross has sent a truck loaded with medical supplies to the main hospital in St Marc. Another convoy of trucks is scheduled to leave from Port-au-Prince today, carrying 31,000 litres of clean water and chlorine as well as large tents and sleeping mats to increase the hospital's capacity.

• One Logistics Cluster staff is supporting WHO to conduct a Health Structure assessment in St Marc today.

• The Logistics Cluster received the following cargo movement requests for today so far:

French Red Cross: 6,000 hygiene kits and 6 tents, fromPort-au-Prince to St Marc;

International Relief and Development - IRD: 40 boxes of rehydration salt, from Port-au-Prince to St Marc

Médecins du Monde - MdM, France: 5,000 pocket Ringer’s lactate, from Jeremie to Port-au-Prince

Best regards,Logistics Cluster Haiti

http://www.logcluster.org/ops/hti10a