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CHF Haiti: Mobilizing the Community against Cholera in Cap Haitien

Published 01/14/2011 by Global Communities

CHF Haiti: Mobilizing the Community against Cholera in Cap Haitien

PHOTO: CHF mobilizer Yola Noel tells students and teachers at a school in the Vertieres neighborhood of Zo Vincent about how to avoid, diagnose, and treat cholera. Schools are a preferred target for CHF’s anti-cholera educational effort.
During the cholera outbreak in January of this year, CHF mobilized across the Cap Haitien metropolitan area in an effort to prevent the spread of cholera. Haiti’s second-largest city, Cap Haitien suffered the highest mortality rate in the entire country, spiking at 12.5% during October before leveling to 1.6% in December. To date, nearly 600 people have died from cholera in the North department where Cap Haitien is situated.
To combat this deadly epidemic, CHF deployed 11 mobilizers to circulate on foot through neighborhoods in and around Cap Haitien, targeting as many people as possible to help educate residents about how to avoid, diagnose, and treat cholera. The 11 mobilizers have all received specialized training regarding cholera, and nearly all of the mobilizers have experience working with CHF on past public information campaigns in Cap Haitien.
As of January 2011, CHF mobilizers in Cap Haitien have met with an average of 1,100 people per day during a combination of spontaneous street visits as well as roughly 30 scheduled meetings per day, often in schools. Mobilizers are able to reach an average of 5 new vulnerable neighborhoods per day, places chosen by CHF because of their combination of poverty, poor sanitation infrastructure, and high population density.
Since the cholera outbreak in October 2010, CHF has undertaken extensive cholera awareness campaigns in Port-au-Prince, Gonaives, Leogane, and Carrefour. CHF, which has operated in Cap Haitien since 2006 and thus has deep links with the community, will continue its current cholera education campaign in the region through the end of January.

PHOTO: CHF mobilizer Judeline Donatus takes questions about cholera from a group of girls in Cap Haitien. Most Haitians had never heard of cholera before the October 2010 outbreak, and misinformation is rampant, making public educational campaigns such as CHF’s valuable tools for life-saving prevention and treatment.