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STORY: GENEVA / HAITI CHOLERA RISK
TRT: 1:51
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 11 OCTOBER 2016 GENEVA
FILE – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot,exterior, Palais des Nations
11 OCTOBER 2016 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Legros, Cholera Focal Point, World Health Organisation (WHO):
“We are quite concerned by the risk of further increase of cholera cases, particularly at that time of the year where over the last few years we observed that there is a usual increase in cases reported between November and January. So we have a sort of phenomenon where there is a usual increase plus a potential higher risk related to the hurricane and the consequences of the hurricane”.
4. Wide shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominique Legros, Cholera Focal Point, World Health Organisation (WHO):
“The top priority clearly for those people affected by the hurricane is to give them access to safe water. That is the only way we can control cholera in Haiti and elsewhere. And for those people who are sick of cholera, the top priority is to treat them and give them access to treatment. And that is a concern today as we understood because of the damage to the health care facilities”.
6. Close up, hands with phone
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Bettina Luescher, Spokesperson, World Food Programme (WFP):
“In the north-west of the country 60 to 90 percent of the harvest have been destroyed, the fishing industry in that part of the country is paralysed because the boats and fishing materials have been swept away. In the south-west almost 100 percent of the crops have been destroyed, which explains why the situation is so dire”.
8. Close up, journalist
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Denis McClean, Spokesperson, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR):
“Hurricane Matthew is further confirmation that Haiti is the world’s most dangerous country for disasters, according to the analysis which we will present on Thursday in a new report called “Poverty & Death: Disaster Mortality 1996-2015”.
10. Close up, hand with pen
The World Health Organization announced today (11 Oct) that one million doses of the cholera vaccine will be sent to Haiti in response to the devastation brought by hurricane Matthew. The hurricane has accelerated the already existing cholera epidemic in the Caribbean country, which has seen almost 900,000 cases since 2010.
WHO cholera expert Dr. Dominique Legros said the organization was concerned by the risk of further increase of cholera cases, as there had been a usual increase in reported cases between November and January over the past few years. He said, “We have a sort of phenomenon where there is a usual increase plus a potential higher risk related to the hurricane and the consequences of the hurricane.”
WHO reported some 9,000 deaths among the nearly 900,000 people affected since the start of the cholera outbreak in Haiti seven years ago. So far this year, almost 30,000 cholera cases have been recorded already exceeding the number in 2015. The main cause for the rapid spread of the disease has been lack of access to safe water. Dr. Legros, who is set to travel to Haiti in the coming week, emphasized that "the top priority clearly for those people affected by the hurricane is to give them access to safe water.” He said this was the only way to control cholera in Haiti.
World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Bettina Luescher said that 60 to 90 percent of the country’s north-west harvests have been destroyed and the fishing industry in that part of the country was “paralysed because the boats and fishing materials have been swept away.” She said nearly all the crops in the south-west were destroyed “which explains why the situation is so dire.”
As the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) is preparing its latest report, spokesperson Denis McClean said that “Hurricane Matthew is further confirmation that Haiti is the world’s most dangerous country for disasters.”
