3 years after the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti “Freedom – Move On” shares a positive message in this video set in the beautiful Haiti.
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Event: Haïti – Rencontres (Seminar series)
23 Apr
Haïti – Rencontres : Un séminaire multiculturel presented by the Henri Peyre French Institute and the Graduate Center of CUNY
This is a series of events taking place between 4/24 – 4/30 at the Graduate Center located at 365 Fifth avenue New York, NY 10016.
The discussions will be in French. Event details are listed below:
Tuesday, April 24, 2012:
Description: Port-au-Prince, Debout ( 1803 – 2010) : Historical & Pictorial Exhibit. Cidihca and the United Haitian Artists (curator).
Location: Concourse Rooms C204-205. 6pm-8pm.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012:
Description: “Un autre regard sur l’épidémie de choléra en Haiti,” a talk by Jean-Daniel Rainhorn (Université de Genève, auteur de Haïti, réinventer l’avenir).
Location: Concourse Rooms C204-205, 6pm-8pm.
Monday, April 30, 2012:
Description: “Entre Théâtre et Littérature : Syto Cavé, une auto-rétrospective,” with Syto Cavé.
Location: Martin E. Segal Theatre, 6pm-8pm.
For more information about these events, please visit The Graduate Center website, take a look at the official event flyer: here or contact Carole Kulikowski Ckulikowski@gc.cuny.edu.
Justin Beiber turns 18 and makes a wish for clean water.
1 MarToday Justin Bieber turns 18, and he’s “giving up” his birthday for clean water! Click on the link below and check out how you can help this cause: http://charitywater.org/justinbieber
Image Source: Charity Water
We REMEMBER. We BELIEVE (Moment of Silence for Haiti: 04:53:10 pm [EST])
12 JanAs 04:53:10 pm on the 2nd year anniversary of the Earthquake in Haiti approaches, we all REMEMBER that day and appreciate life more as a result of it. To see a city…a nation reduced to rubble in 35 seconds was beyond humbling; it felt as if the world stood still. For a moment in time, the world stopped and noticed the little island 600 miles off coast Florida and watched as the horror developed.
Men, woman and children called out in agony while trapped beneath piles of concrete and steel. Newborn lives cut short, children left without parents and parents left without children. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost that day and millions were forever changed. Just imagine losing your entire family and everything you own in the same day; everything you have ever loved and worked for gone, just like that.
Credit: Sara Heinrichs (All Rights Reserved)
Today we remember Haiti and we pray for her on behalf of all those that truly BELIEVE in “A Brighter Future for Haiti”.
We pray that the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their lives have found peace, and that their families are healing from the pain of losing a loved one.
We ask that God watch over the abandoned children, protect the vulnerable and heal the sick.
We pray for all those who continue to live in temporary shelters and makeshift tents, even more so for the parents that are raising children in the IDP tent camps and the elderly in need of care.
Source: flickriver.com by lucastheexperience
On January 12, 2010 at 04:53:10 pm the lives of the Haitian people were forever changed. Today, January 12, 2012 at 04:53:10 pm [EST] we call on all supporters of Haiti to observe a Moment of Silence in honor of the earthquake victims, their families and those who continue to struggle. Let us come together and reflect on where Haiti was 2 years ago while recognizing some of the positive progress that has been made in the country so far.
There is strength in unity and promise for our people. Let us keep Haiti in our hearts and continue to lift her up through our actions.
L’Union fait la force!
Haiti Grassroots Watch: AyitiKaleJe (Video)
25 Dec“We need a code of ethics with a national strategy”
(Video Credit: Ayiti Kale JE)
“For Dossier #4, Haiti Grassroots Watch took a look at cholera, water and sanitation“
Video Focus:
1. Why has cholera hit the country so hard?
2. What is the real situation of water and sanitation?
3. How did things get this way?”
“Haiti Grassroot Watch is a partnership whose goal is to look more deeply at Haiti’s reconstruction”
This video is an on the ground view of cholera that takes a look at some of the more complex issues that are associated with the cholera epidemic, such as access to clean water, the role of government and NGO’s.
In some cases patients with previous health conditions are not being treated. (According to this report) “Some infected people also have other conditions but some hospitals refuse them care.” Malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and other previous health conditions make it increasing difficult to fight against cholera. Pregnant woman battling cholera face greater health issues. More often than not infants are born prematurely or die during the pregnancy.
“A lot of NGOs are working on water and sanitation, but they aren’t coordinated, and they can’t replace the state”
“There are a lot of NGOs!” This report suggest that the effort of various NGO’s working in Haiti would be more effective if those efforts were being coordinated or monitored in someway. Their are too many NGO’s in Haiti, and some are believed to be doing “superficial, almost ‘folkloric’ projects.”
“We need a code of ethics with a national strategy”
News Update: Cholera numbers
19 Dec
Cholera in Haiti - news.nationalpost image
Death Toll: 2,535
Total Affected: 114,497
Hospitalized: 58,190
Recovered: 56,463
Location: Cholera has spread to all 10 provinces of Haiti, some cases have been reported in the Dominican Republic and Florida, USA
Artibonite has been most affected by the cholera outbreak, with 807
How it began:
It is believed that the epidemic began with an imported strain of the disease that could be traced back to UN peacekeepers from Nepal.
Source: msnbc.com
“The body of 7-year-old Kevin Francois, who according to his mother died of cholera in route to the hospital, lies in the street covered as a man, pulls the body of his father-in-law to the cemetery after he found him dead of cholera in the street near his home in Cap Haitian, Haiti, Friday, Nov. 19, 2010. Thousands of people have been hospitalized for cholera across Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever and at least 1,100 people have died.”
Articles:
Haiti Cholera toll passes 2,500
Haiti cholera investigation announced by United Nations
News Update: Cholera in Haiti
13 Dec
Cholera Victims in Haiti (Photo Credit -- Getty via ABC News Radio)
Cases of Cholera have now been reported in every district of Haiti as well as in some areas of the Dominican Republic and Florida. The cholera outbreak in Haiti has infecting nearly 91,000 people claiming the lives of over 2,000, but will not be spread in DR or FL as both of these region s have better access to clean drinking water and medical facilities.
FIGURE 1. Reported number of new cases of cholera (N = 91,770), by hospitalization status --- Haiti, October 20--December 3, 2010* (Image Credit: CDC)
“Cholera is caused by a bacteria, Vibrio cholerae, which causes an infection of the intestine and produces a toxin that triggers watery diarrhea that can lead to dehydration and death. The disease has largely been eliminated in countries that have access to clean drinking water, but can spread rapidly in areas where people drink tainted water. An infected human can produce the bacteria in his feces for up to two weeks, even if they don’t show signs of illness.”
FIGURE 2. Cumulative number of cases of cholera reported overall* and date of first laboratory-confirmed case, by department and in Port-au-Prince†--- National Cholera Monitoring System, Haiti, December 3, 2010 (Image Credit: CDC)
“The cholera epidemic has spread rapidly not only because of the poor health infrastructure and water sanitation in Haiti, but also because of some stark biological realities. Haiti hasn’t seen cholera in at least a century, leaving the population without immunity to the disease.”
“As of December 3, a total of 91,770 cases had been reported nationwide, and 43,243 (47.1%) patients had been hospitalized (Figure 1). The largest number of cases (42,596 [46.4%]) were reported from Artibonite Department, which comprises approximately 16% of the Haiti population (2) and is the department where cases were first laboratory-confirmed (Figure 2).”
FIGURE 3. Rolling 7-day hospital case-fatality ratio* for Artibonite and all other departments --- Haiti, October 31--December 3, 2010 (Image Credit: CDC)
Resources:
Cholera in Haiti has spread to every part of the country, CDC reports
Cholera is spreding in Haiti at an alarming rate
25 Nov
Father holds son while being treated for cholera at a health facility on Wednesday in Cabaret, Haiti. (Photo Credit: WSJ)
“PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Cholera is now projected to spread more than twice as fast as originally estimated across this ravaged country, with more than 425,000 cases of the potentially fatal disease expected in the first six months since it appeared, a United Nations official said.
As many as 200,000 of those cases are expected before the end of the year, with a peak before Christmas, Nigel Fisher, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, said in an interview.”
“When we were in the initial stages of planning, we had said there would be 200,000 cases over six months,” he said. “Today the figures are 425,000 over six months, of which 200,000 before year’s end, with a peak before Christmas.”
“The predictions reflect the explosive nature of the cholera epidemic, which erupted in rural Haiti in October but has since spread to each of the country’s 10 regions, as well as Port-au-Prince, where more than 1.3 million displaced earthquake survivors live in crowded camps.
Officially, the disease had sickened 66,593 people and killed 1,523 as of Monday, according to the Ministry of Health. But the real number of cases is likely much higher, health officials acknowledge, partly because the systems used to count the ill aren’t capturing every nonhospitalized case. Cholera is spread through contaminated water and food, and officials had predicted it would move around the country quickly because sanitation is poor and clean water is lacking.”
Haiti: Cholera & Protest (Estimated: 1,000 Dead 15,000 hospitalized)
16 Nov“Health officials reported that the disease has spread to the capital, Port-au-Prince, where they fear it could spread quickly in slums and in camps teeming with people left homeless by January’s devastating earthquake. Nearly 1,000 Haitians have already been killed by the disease.”
“How quickly is cholera spreading in Haiti?
Nearly 15,000 people have been hospitalized with cholera-like symptoms. Doctors fear the infection rate could rise quickly now that the outbreak has reached the crowded capital city of Port-au-Prince, where a million people who were left homeless by the January earthquake are living in poor sanitary conditions that could help the disease spread. “All of the hospitals in Port-au-Prince are overflowing with patients,” says Stefano Zannini, head of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.”
“Why are protesters fighting with the U.N.?
Many of the demonstrators believe U.N. soldiers from Nepal brought the disease into the country. The strain of cholera spreading through Haiti resembles one that originated in Asia, although it has been circulating around the globe for decades.
“Is there any way to stop the outbreak?” (Follow the link for more info)
“Since cholera is caused by bacteria spread in contaminated water or food, a simple bar of soap can provide some defense. In Haiti, where a cake of local soap costs 50 cents and the average person lives on less than $1.25 a day, many people can’t afford to buy it.”
(Text Credit: theWeek.com sourcing CNN, NY Times, Wash. Post, VOA, Guardian, NPR)
