Halting Haiti's cholera outbreak requires more funds: UN

A Haitian man with cholera symptoms is being carry to a small clinic, in Randelle, Haiti, on October 19, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations has expressed concern over the persistence of a cholera epidemic in the Caribbean nation of Haiti due to lack of funding. 

The spate of the waterborne disease -- which spread following a huge earthquake struck the nation in 2010 -- witnessed a resurgence after Hurricane Matthew overwhelmed the impoverished country in early October as the number of recorded cholera cases more than doubled in Haiti between September and October, AFP reported Saturday citing the UN.

Funding is vital for supporting the humanitarian requirements of the poorest nation in the Americas, said the deputy special representative for the UN's stabilization mission in Haiti, Mourad Wahba.

"The rainy season will return and inevitably there will be an increase in the number of cholera cases," Wahba added. "I'm optimistic, but it all depends on the funding."

This is while no funds have yet been set aside beyond the first quarter of 2017, which could lead to a growing risk of hospital mortality if none are ultimately allocated, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Haiti.

Suspected cases of the disease dropped by 25 percent - from 2,400 to 1,800 - between October to November, OCHA said in its latest report from Haiti.

The UN further states that the situation in the Caribbean nation has improved thanks to a three-fold boost in the deployment of emergency teams, the delivery of drinking water as well as a vaccination campaign.

Cholera struck nearly 40,000 patients in Haiti between January and November, leading to 420 deaths. On an international scale, Haiti's cholera outbreak is the most vicious in recent history.

According to numerous independent experts, cholera was introduced to Haiti by infected Nepalese UN peacekeepers deployed to the island nation following the 2010 earthquake.