PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov 29 (NNN-TELESUR) — Cholera has killed 223 people in the country, according to the Haitian Ministry of Health and Population (MSPP).
The health authority said that since Oct 2, 1,003 confirmed cases of cholera have been reported, as well as 11,889 suspected cases.
Of the total number of fatalities (223), 149 were in hospitals, the MSPP said, adding that at least 10,200 people were treated in health institutions.
According to the evaluation of the Department of Epidemiology, Laboratories and Research of the MSPP, 4,099 children under nine years old have symptoms, of which 252 are under one-year-old.
The Director of UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programs, Manuel Fontaine, recently warned that Haitian children are at triple risk in a country currently hit by malnutrition, cholera and armed violence.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that two out of every 55 cholera patients, 40 percent of the total, are children, and most of them live in areas affected by a growing nutritional crisis.
During this cholera outbreak, medical care and assistance to affected families is hampered by increased violence and armed groups.
The first cholera epidemic in the Caribbean country lasted nine years and claimed the lives of some 10,000 people with more than 800,000 contagions. — NNN-TELESUR
