A cholera epidemic that has killed nearly 600 people in Haiti has gained a foothold in in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince and is expected to spread widely and quickly in the sprawling city of 3 million people, health authorities said on Tuesday.
A Haitian mother struggles to provide her family with safe water
"I never treated the water," she says. "But at the hospital they told me to treat with chlorine before using it. I'm really scared. My young son was sick with cholera. This could have happened to my other children as well."
In a country where more than 50 per cent of the population lives on less than $1.25 per day, however, money for soap or fuel to boil water is not always an option for the majority of the population.
Ms. Merceda, for one, could not afford to regularly buy chlorine tablets to treat the water she and her children drink. She says that if it comes to deciding whether to have food on the table or to have safe drinking water, food would take priority.
 |
| © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-2298/Dormino |
| A girl collects water from the Artibonite River in Grand Dessaline, a town in Artibonite Department, Haiti. The river is believed to be contaminated with cholera. |
Regular supplies of chlorine tablets to purify water are not available in community markets. As part of its cholera response activities, UNICEF has been facilitating the distribution of chlorine tablets, also known as Aquatabs. To date, UNICEF has provided almost 1 million tablets, each capable of treating five litres of water, to communities in cholera-affected areas of Haiti. Another 100 million have been ordered.
Aware of the danger
Celeste Jameson, a neighbour of the family, says the option of boiling water to make it safe is also not always available.
"Most of the people in this neighbourhood don't have the money for charcoal," he says. "And if they have it, they will use it to cook food and not to boil water."
Having safe drinking water is made even more difficult in Ms. Merceda's household, because the family does not have access to a sanitary toilet. Like their neighbours, the family relieves themselves in a small local stream, the same place they use to wash themselves.
"It's very hard for me," she says. "My husband is a farmer. He doesn't earn much money and I don't have a job. I do tell my children to wash their hands after going to the toilet. But I can't control them all the time. Soap is expensive, too."
Still, Ms. Merceda is aware of the danger posed by unclean water. She says she will try to use chlorine tablets to keep the water safe or at least boil the water before using it.
No comments:
Post a Comment