Warning Against Cholera Outbreak
Welthungerhilfe focuses on distribution of soap and water cleaning tablets
Hurricane Matthew survivors in Haiti are now facing the biggest threat that comes from Cholera outbreaks. In hurricane affected areas, wells were flooded and contaminated. Thus, for some days, people have been drawing their water from standing waters. Latrines were destroyed, too. This disastrous situation provides good conditions for Cholera infections.
After hurricane Matthew, a total of about 1.4 million people in the poor Caribbean country are depending on aid. In the regions of Nippes and Petit-Goâve, Welthungerhilfe focuses on the distribution of soap and water cleaning tablets to avoid an outbreak of Cholera there. At the same time, the organisation continues its support of local emergency units. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had launched an appeal to increase the support of local institutions instead of creating parallel structures.
From a Welthungerhilfe point of view, this approach of “empowering people to help themselves” has proven to be effective even after the disastrous earthquake in 2010. In the organisation’s project regions, the local catastrophe brigades were able to get operational much faster now after the hurricane.
Staff members of Welthungerhilfe are available for interviews on the ground.
Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organisations in Germany; politically independent and non-denominational. It is fighting for ‘Zero Hunger by 2030’. Since its establishment, more than 8,500 overseas projects in 70 countries have been supported with 3.27 billion euros. Welthungerhilfe works on the basic principle of empowering people to help themselves: from rapid disaster relief to reconstruction and long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organisations.
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