On Thursday April 26, 2012, at 7:30pm, the documentary Haiti Village Health, produced by award winning documentary film maker Robert Zuill, will screen at The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute [BUEI].

The film documents work being done by Haiti Village Health which is an aid organization started by Dr. Tiffany Keenan, a doctor who works here in Bermuda. Under Dr. Keenan’s guidance, Haiti Village Health built a clinic and set up a public health programme in the village of Bas Limbe on a remote stretch of Haiti’s north coast.

The documentary tells the story of how the Haiti Village Health clinic was not in existence long when the cholera epidemic that resulted from the Haitian earthquake, swept through the area. In the resulting terror, thousands of lives were saved because the clinic was up and running before the epidemic struck.

In his long TV career, film maker Robert Zuill has worked for CNN, PBS, and other networks. His projects have taken him to many places including Kosovo and Afghanistan and he has also done stories on drug traffickers in Mexico. Mr Zuill has won several awards including the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award for foreign reporting. This award was for his work on a CNN programme called “Kingdom of Cocaine”.

The Haiti Village Health documentary shows how before the clinic arrived, there was no health care at all. Prior to the rapid onset of the cholera infection after the earthquake, the villagers of Bas Limbe were in dire need of better health care. Bas Limbe has no electricity, running water, or even a good road leading to the village.

The lack of any sanitation system whatsoever fueled the cholera transmission which occurs primarily by drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated by the feces of an infected person. The inhabitants survive on a meager diet of a few fish and what crops they can raise in the sandy soil.

Mr Zuill said, “The Bas Limbe clinic has dramatically improved the lives of villagers in the area. They now have access to pre-natal care, immunization, women’s health services and education, basic medical care, and more.”

For original article, see http://bernews.com/2012/04/video-preview-haiti-village-health-documentary/