Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald explains how, as cholera spreads, some ask for Haiti’s election campaign to take a pause.
As the number of cholera cases begin to spread outside of the rural valley where it first broke last week, several presidential candidates in Haiti’s upcoming elections are asking for a cease in the campaigning.
And at least one — Leslie Voltaire — is asking for an outright postponement of the Nov. 28 vote.
”If cholera spreads to the west and north, I will advocate to save lives instead of taking the risk,” Voltaire said.
The deadly outbreak of cholera in an already earthquake-wracked Haiti has become one more complication in a nation still grappling with the effects of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake that left an estimated 300,000 Haitians dead and at least 1.5 million Haitians living underneath tents and tarps.
Haitian and foreign officials continued to investigate the source Thursday as health experts confirmed cases in Arcahaie, a rural town 20 miles north of the quake-ravaged capital and into Haiti’s most western region, the Grande Anse. The waterborne bacterial infection has killed 305 Haitians and hospitalized 4,649 Haitians, the government said late Thursday.
Also Thursday, the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) disputed allegations that sewage water coming from latrines in the Nepalese military base in Mirebalais could be the source of the cholera outbreak.
Tests were conducted and ”proved negative,” MINUSTAH said in a statement.
The private contractor also denied that it had not properly discharged the waste at the base. It said treated waste is taken to a nearby landfill site authorized by the local government.
SAFEGUARDS
But the epidemic is encroaching upon the capital.
”We are taking measures,” said Dr. Ariel Henry, the chief of cabinet for the Ministry of Health. ”We are training people on the ground to give out oral rehydration salts. We are putting in place cholera treatment centers. We are also doing a big effort all over the country with 50,000 people. We are training them, and we are preparing to deploy them.”
The health ministry has not asked for a delay of the vote, but it has asked candidates to refrain from holding rallies in cholera-affected communities.
So far, neither the World Health Organization, which is working with Haitian health officials to contain the epidemic, nor the electoral council charged with putting on the elections has called for a postponement out of public health concerns.
On Wednesday in Washington, the diplomat leading a joint Caribbean Community/ Organization of American States observation mission reported that ”the electoral process is progressing steadily toward 28 November.”
”The political environment is more reassuring with the increasing participation of parties, political platforms and candidates who initially intended to boycott the elections,” said Colin Granderson, who is also the assistant secretary general of CARICOM.
Still, Granderson conceded that the evolution of the cholera outbreak and its potential impact on the process remain a concern.
DIVIDED ATTENTION
Célestin, who participated in a televised debate Wednesday in which cholera was raised, said he was not seeking an election delay. Rather, he said that Haitians should not have their attention divided while the government and international humanitarian community scale up a massive prevention and public education campaign.
”The population should not have to listen to campaign jingles while the population is dying,” said Célestin, tapped by Préval to succeed him. ”To see candidates put posters in a hospital in Mirebalais where people are dying, it’s sad.”
Martelly also complained about how some candidates are trying to politicize the epidemic to their benefit by wearing campaign T-shirts, and parading in marked campaign vehicles as they visit the sick.
Observers say even if no decision is taken on the election, how the government handles the outbreak could influence the outcome of the vote in what is emerging as a competitive race. Though Célestin is neck-and-neck with opposition leader Mirlande Manigat in the most recent poll, he is trailing in a number of quake-battered cities, including the capital where observers say he’s being hurt by the government’s often-criticized handling of the quake response.
Reginald Boulos, the chairman of the Economic Forum of the Private Sector, which commissioned the recent poll, said cholera could also be a chance for the Préval’s government to redeem itself.
”The earthquake was a negative for the government because they didn’t react appropriately,” he said. ”It could turn out to be a positive thing if they manage it well; if they show leadership, and compassion in the people.”
Read more at http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/28/1897357/choleras-spread-raises-calls-to.html#ixzz13iTDZSGc
