HAITI / CHOLERA UPDATE

UNICEF Health Specialist Dr. Mireille Tribie talks about the agency's efforts to treat and prevent cholera in Port au Prince. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:06
• Production Date: 19 November 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: HEALTH SERVICES; DISEASE PREVENTION; DISEASE CONTROL; DISEASES; ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
• Geographic Subject: HAITI; UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION IN HAITI - MINUSTAH
• MAMS Id: U101119e

Description

STORY: HAITI / CHOLERA UPDATE
TRT: 2.06
SOURCE: UNICEF / MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 19 NOVEMBER 2010, PORT AU PRINCE / FILE

FILE / MINUSTAH / 12 NOVEMBER 2010, CAMP "PISTE”, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI

1. Wide shot, camp "Piste"
2. Wide shot, tractor passing by the entrance of the camp
3. Med shot, man's feet stepping on a decontamination bin
4. Med shot, man washing his hands at the entrance of the camp
5. Med shot, Red Cross nurse watching outside observation center

19 NOVEMBER 2010, PORT AU PRINCE

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Doctor Mireille Tribie, Health Specialist, Port au Prince, Haiti, UNICEF:
“We are making sure that the radios disseminate to the population and we tell them why it is preventable, the mechanisms to avoid; the good hygiene practices that should be put in place now immediately and of course it’s treatable once the patient is diagnosed or not even diagnosed. Once the signs are apparent that it might be cholera immediately start with the oral re-hydration while you are making your way to the CTCs or a close hospital. The important thing is that the population is well aware that it’s a decease that you can prevent and can treat if taken in time.”

FILE / MINUSTAH / 12 NOVEMBER 2010, CAMP "PISTE”, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI

7. Pan left, International Red Cross Federation officer walking in camp
8. Med shot, family under a tarpaulin with IFRC officer arriving in the back
9. Med shot, Red Cross officer talking
10. SOUNDUP (Creole) Red Cross Officer:
"What should you do to avoid Cholera?"
11. Close up, girl in the camp
12. SOUNDUP (Creole) Girl:
“We have to wash our hands."
13. SOUNDUP (Creole) Red Cross Officer:
"Bravo!"
14. Med shot, banner on the gate of the camp reading "Hello water, hello soap, baby microbe."

19 NOVEMBER 2010, PORT AU PRINCE

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Doctor Mireille Tribie, Health Specialist, Port au Prince, Haiti, UNICEF:
“It’s a decision between life and death. The microbe works rapidly; the dehydration is very rapid within hours the person can loose all of its water and they collapse, the persons dies. So it is very rapid so that’s why now the message is do not waste time.”

FILE / MINUSTAH / 11 NOVEMBER 2010, GONAIVES, HAITI

16. Wide shot, Hospital Raboto
17. Close up, sick child being treated
18. Med shot, nurse taking care of sick man
19. Close up, nurse taking out the IV needle
20. Close up, sleeping child with IV
21. Pan right, overcrowded hall of hospital onto room

Storyline

UNICEF is mobilizing all its staff and resources in an effort to stem the spread of cholera in Haiti, and warned this week that with 50 percent of the population under 18 years, large numbers of children are affected.

To date, 14,642 cases have been reported with 917 deaths, a fatality rate of 3.8 per cent. Seven out of Haiti's ten departments have now been affected.

UNICEF has assisted the World Health Organization (WHO) and NGOs in setting up Cholera Treatment Centers in the capital and rural areas. Thousands of children and parents are being reached with hygiene promotion messages including radio awareness campaigns and posters.

UNICEF’s health specialist in Port Au Prince, Doctor Mireille Tribie said that they are making sure that the radio stations in Haiti disseminate preventive information for the people. “The important thing is that the population is well aware that it’s a decease that you can prevent and can treat if taken in time,” Tribie said.

Since the beginning of the cholera outbreak, UNICEF has been distributing millions of aqua tabs for water purification, thousands of bars of soap, and tons of chlorine for the cleaning of water systems in the capital and elsewhere. Hospitals and health centres in Port au Prince have received water and sanitation and health packages including chlorine and portable latrines.

Tribie said that as soon as people realize they have cholera symptoms they must immediately go to the nearest health center. “It’s a decision between life and death,” she said.

Since the microbe works rapidly, and as the dehydration moves within hours a person can loose water and collapse. “So it is very rapid so that’s why now the message is do not waste time,” Tribie stressed.

UNICEF is working with the government and UN partners, including the World Food Program (WFP), to cover 5,000 schools with hygiene promotion, soap, access to safe water as well as the maintenance and improvement of sanitation. In addition, UNICEF is training teachers on hygiene promotion for 22,000 schools nationwide.