ARTICLE - MSF TREATING HIGH NUMBERS

HAITI: MSF STILL TREATING HIGH NUMBERS OF CHOLERA PATIENTS
(www.msf.org.uk)

From 22nd October to 28th November, MSF teams have treated more than 41,000 people for cholera and cholera-like symptoms in cholera treatment centres (CTCs) established in Port-au-Prince, Artibonite region, north, and northwest of the country.

MSF has established 30 CTCs in the country—13 in Port-au-Prince—and teams are seeing 1,200 new cases per day. These facilities have a total bed capacity of 3,200, including 1,100 in Port-au-Prince.

In the Artibonite region, where the outbreak began, MSF has treated 20,325 cases and the number of admissions has now stabilised. In the Port-au-Prince area, 12,100 cases have been treated, with more than 3,500 cases treated during the week ending on 28th November. The week prior, November 14th-21st, 4,500 cases had been admitted to MSF CTCs in the capital.

In the north, Cap Haitien and surrounding areas, 5,800 cases have been treated by MSF since the beginning of our intervention, including 1,900 during the week ending on 28th November. In the northwest (Port de Paix and surrounding areas), MSF has treated 3,100 cases since the start of the intervention, including at least 1,000 new cases last week, which is down from 1,300 cases reported the week of November 14th-21st.

MSF’s ongoing programmes
All other MSF facilities and services are running normally during the emergency cholera response. MSF has more than 3,000 Haitian and international medical and non-medical staff providing assistance to the population through its ongoing programmes. They run seven private, free of charge, secondary-level care hospitals and support two Ministry of Health structures in Port-au-Prince, accounting for nearly 1,000 hospital beds in the capital city. These facilities provide emergency, trauma, obstetrical, paediatric, maternal, and orthopaedic care services.

Mental health care and treatment and counselling for victims of sexual violence are also provided by MSF.

Outside the capital, MSF supports Ministry of Health hospitals in the cities of Leogane and Jacmel with nearly a 200 bed capacity. MSF opened a private 120 bed container hospital in Leogane in October.

From 12th January to 30th September, MSF has treated more than 339,000 people, performed more than 15,700 surgeries, and delivered over 9,900 babies. MSF also provides primary medical care and relief supplies to displaced persons living in various camps in Port-au-Prince through mobile and fixed clinics, and is carrying out water and sanitation services to displaced persons in the Cite de Soleil slum.