GLOBAL HEALTH - THE CHOLERA FIGHT

WAITSFIELD GROUP HELPS LEAD CHOLERA FIGHT
(Burlington Free Press) - By Myra Mathis-Flynn

Although it may not show its face often in the United States, the deadly disease cholera is alive and well. The World Health Organization reports an estimated 3 million to 5 million cholera cases annually, resulting in 100,000 to 120,000 deaths worldwide. Cholera can kill quickly and spread easily.

The Global Health Media Project of Waitsfield has joined the fight against cholera. The company's director, Deborah Van Dyke, collaborated with award-winning animator Yoni Goodman to produce the short film "The Story of Cholera."

The video was made in response to the devastating cholera epidemic that began in Haiti a year ago. The animated film will be used as an educational tool to help affected populations around the world better understand the disease and how to prevent it from spreading.

Even with its simple color scheme and cartoon drawings of wide-eyed villagers, the video is graphic and straight to the point. It opens immediately with scenes of villagers suffering from symptoms of the intestinal disease, showing the contamination in yellow against the black and white background. Viewers can watch how easily the yellow disease spreads to others via handshakes, water and food.

"'The Story of Cholera' helps communities understand how cholera is spread and the basic steps they can take to prevent it," Van Dyke said. "By making the invisible cholera germs visible, this simple animated narrative brings to life the teaching points of cholera prevention."

This video is one of many that Global Health Media Project produces to help bridge the health knowledge gap in low-resource communities.

Goodman is an Israeli animator, known for his work as director of animation for the film "Waltz with Bashir." He animates short films, clips and commercials, mainly for human rights organizations, and is working as director of animation for the upcoming feature "The Futurological Congress."

The Global Health Media Project and Goodman are working on making "The Story of Cholera" available in multiple languages, beginning with English and Haitian Creole. Van Dyke said the group has had requests from countries on several continents to translate the film.

"There is a large consortium that would like to use it to educate the population in Haiti before the next wave of cholera expected in March," Van Dyke said. "We have translated the film into six languages and have confirmed a popular radio/TV personality, Carel Pedre, to narrate it into Haitian Creole."

"The Story of Cholera" is available at http://globalhealthmedia.org and is free of charge to download to mobile devices.

For more information, contact Global Health Media at http://globalhealthmedia.org or call
496-7556.