PORT-AU-PRINCE – The death toll from Haiti’s cholera epidemic has reached more than 900 and the disease is present in six of the 10 provinces of the earthquake-battered Caribbean country, the health ministry said yesterday.
An update on the ministry website (www.mspp.gouv.ht) said as of November 12th, there had been 917 deaths and more than 14,600 hospitalised cases since the outbreak began more than three weeks ago in the western hemisphere’s poorest state.
The central rural province of Artibonite, the epicentre of the epidemic, remained the worst affected, accounting for nearly 600 of the total deaths. Other provinces affected were Centre, Nord, Nord Ouest, Sud, and Ouest, where the capital Port-au-Prince is located.
The capital, which bore the brunt of destruction from the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, has recorded 27 deaths.
The UN forecasts up to 200,000 Haitians could contract cholera as the outbreak extends across the country of nearly 10 million, and says $163.9 million (€129 million) in aid is needed over the next year to combat the epidemic.
Despite the cholera outbreak, presidential and legislative elections are scheduled to go ahead as planned on November 28th. – (Reuters)