The Haitian Ministry of Public Health has confirmed that cholera has claimed the lives of 461 people since its outbreak three months ago in the Caribbean country; a health crisis that adds to the backs of a country in a state of food emergency and ravaged by crime.
According to the latest official balance published late on Thursday by Haiti Libre, the Haitian health authorities have confirmed a total of 1,576 cases while trying to finish verifying another 23,112 probable ones. The number of hospitalized with symptoms amounts to 19,186 since the declaration of the first case on October 3, 2021
The average age of those admitted to hospitals is 20 years and the incidence is especially notable among children between 1 and 9 years of age, with a total of 7,700 probable cases.
This health crisis occurs at a time of extreme insecurity to the point that the Government of Canada has announced the transport of armored vehicles to Haiti to deal with the insecurity crisis facing the Central American country.
The Canadian Foreign Minister, Mélanie Joly, and the Defense Minister, Anita Anand, have reported that the Executive has thus responded to the Haitian government’s requests, according to a statement.
To this must be added the hunger crisis. In this sense, the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, has announced that in the coming days the country will begin to receive financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to respond to the food emergency.
As reported by the head of the Executive, Haiti is one of the first countries to benefit from this program –called the Food Shock Window– and will allow it to implement “a series of social protection actions,” he detailed last weekend week in a message via Twitter.
