H5N1

Hait: "Food security conditions are likely to deteriorate"

Via ReliefWeb, a document from the Famine Early Warning System Network: Haiti Food Security Outlook Update October 2010 through March 2011. The summary:

- Food availability and food access have improved since February/March of this year as conditions continue to stabilize, though sanitation and housing conditions are still far from ideal. 

- The cholera outbreak is spreading with serious effects on the production and marketing chain. Thus, food security conditions are likely to deteriorate over the next six months. 

- A series of events such as civil disturbances, floods in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, and the cholera outbreak in the Artibonite will restrict the flow of food trade and curtail food access on the Northwestern peninsula between November and March. However, food insecurity levels will remain in the moderate to high range. 

- The hurricane season is still active and will continue to be until the end of November.

BBC: Pakistan flood warning 'not passed on'

Via BBC News, a sickening report: Pakistan flood warning 'not passed on'. Excerpt:

A study has suggested that the effects of last year's floods in Pakistan could have been less catastrophic if European weather forecasts had been shared with Pakistan. 

The American Geophysical Union said the forecasts could have given up to 10 days' advance warning of the floods. 

The study said this could have allowed the authorities in northern Pakistan to take preventative measures. 

The monsoon floods affected 20 million people and one fifth of the country. 

At least 1,500 people died in the deluge. 

The American Geophysical Union said the information did not reach Pakistan because of a "lack of cooperation between the forecasting centre and Pakistan". 

Pakistan's own weather agency also did not forecast the floods, the organisation added. 

"This disaster could have been minimised and even the flooding could have been minimised," said Peter Webster, a professor of earth and atmospheric science at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and lead writer of the study. 

"If we were working with Pakistan, they would have known eight to 10 days in advance that the floods were coming."

Here is one of many reports from Pakistan that I posted last summer: "Our hospital is drowning in front of our eyes." I don't know how many people are still displaced from their homes by the floods, but they must number in the scores of thousands.

From a Haitian physician in Bonne Fin

Dr. John Carroll, who runs the excellent blog Dying in Haiti, has posted Urgent E-Mail from Haitian Physician (Revised). It's from a colleague he's known for years, Dr Rudolph Richeme. Read the whole message carefully; Dr. Richeme's English is not perfect, but the message comes through. Excerpt: 

The panick was more at the air on friday afternoon when I was the only doc serving the hospital with 15 cholera patients and 50 in and out patients when my wife called me from Port as Rudlens our 3yo son started running high temperature and vomiting. My wife needed me so bad and she had limited help from my mom for 24h and with the pediatrician call and protocol Rudy2 settled down fortunately later. 

Like I said earlier God is good to my family and for you who can be alive today as this week has been 1 of my toughest experience as doctor beside the earthquake patient management.

The medical staff of Hospital Lumiere Bonne Fin(HLBF),hosted this week 24 cholera patients and 10 of that amount is already discharged and 14 actually in the ER with 4 admissions per day and I am actually admiting at 10h30p.my 4th patient a 18 y.o.girl, but no hospital death yet fortunately. 

Please,I apologize once again not to read this paragraph if you are not tough though it not related to a family member that died: Yesterday while I had the visit of OMS(World heath organization) the scene was more horrible when I had our first cholera death home call visit in Bonne Fin area by our water reservoir for the hospital where I had to help with the post mortem protocol(body bags,chlorox solution,...) ,sanitation of the environnement and education at the community. 

It was unbeleivable to see a poor old man (70's)body died upside down with the buckit attached to his buttock from a severe dehydration where the signs and symptoms have started the night before last and didn't give him any chance to see yesterday's sunrise or to benefit hospital care.

I was speechless to see by the cadaver a 7 yo girl related to the old man lying on an assuming bed there conscious but not moving while everybody in the community was so afraid and didn't want to go in the house to rescue the poor child left for hours by the septic cadaver until myself and another employee by 2p.m. of the hospital get her out of there.

Haiti: More on Aristide's possible return

Via Reuters: UPDATE 2-Haiti opens door for return of ex-president Aristide. Excerpt:

Haiti's government is ready to issue a diplomatic passport to ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, opening the way for his return home from exile in South Africa, a senior official said on Monday. 

Aristide's Miami-based lawyer formally requested the passport in a letter to Haitian authorities, asking them to guarantee security for the former leader's return to his poor, earthquake-battered Caribbean homeland. 

No timing was specified, but the United States and other western donors are wary that the reappearance of the leftist former Roman Catholic priest on his home soil could disrupt an already edgy political climate after chaotic presidential and legislative elections held in November. 

"The Council of Ministers, under the leadership of President Rene Preval, decided that a diplomatic passport be issued to President Aristide, if he asks for it," Fritz Longchamp, general secretary for the presidency, told Reuters. 

Aristide, who became Haiti's first freely elected president in 1990 before being driven out by an armed revolt, said this month he was ready to return to his homeland "today, tomorrow, at any time." 

His willingness to go home follows the controversial return to Haiti on Jan. 16 of former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The reappearance of Duvalier, 59, was judged unhelpful by many foreign governments. He now faces charges in Haiti of corruption, theft and crimes against humanity. 

The return of Aristide, who is still popular and could mobilize fanatical support in the streets, would complicate the charged atmosphere as Haiti awaits first-round results from the Nov. 28 elections, expected to be released on Wednesday. 

Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party, the biggest in the country, was barred from the poll by Haiti's electoral authorities. 

The Western Hemisphere's poorest state is in the grip of a cholera epidemic and struggling to recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people.

CIDRAP: Three Asian countries battle H5N1 outbreaks

Via CIDRAP, a report by Lisa Schnirring: Three Asian countries battle H5N1 outbreaks. Excerpt:

Animal health officials in Japan, South Korea, and Myanmar reported fresh outbreaks of the H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, according to media reports and reports to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). 

The virus hit two more farms in Japan's Miyazaki prefecture, pushing the number of recent poultry farm outbreaks in the prefecture to five, Kyodo News reported yesterday. Miyazaki 's latest outbreaks occurred near the towns of Kawaminami and Nobeoka and prompted the culling of 96,600 chickens. 

In response to the recent outbreaks in wild birds and poultry, the first since April 2009, Japan's agriculture ministry on Jan 29 held an emergency meeting for prefectural officials, according to the Kyodo report. Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano told officials that the virus is a threat to local economies, and he urged them to do more to make sure farms are complying with biosecurity rules. 

The H5N1 outbreaks have recently led to cancellations of bird-related events at least 28 facilities such as zoos and aquariums in Japan, the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported today. Authorities cancelled a marathon that was scheduled to be run through a wintering area for migratory cranes and in some instances have banned the feeding of swans and other birds.

Haiti: What some NGOs are doing, and where

I've just received a link to Haiti Aid Map, an interactive resource showing some of the NGOs active in various parts of the country. All told, it shows us 77 organizations involved in 447 projects. The actual number of NGOs is much higher, but this is a start.

Dominican Republic launches second phase of cholera fight

Via Google Noticias Salud in Cuba, an EPA report: Inicia la segunda etapa de la estrategia para combatir el cólera en R. Dominicana. [Second stage of anti-cholera campaign launched in Dominican Republic] Excerpt, with my translation:

Las autoridades sanitarias dominicanas anunciaron hoy la puesta en marcha de la segunda etapa de la estrategia diseñada para combatir el cólera en el país, donde se han contabilizado 238 casos, con una persona fallecida. 

Dominican health authorities today announced the launch of the second phase of the strategy designed to combat cholera in the country, which has record 238 cases and one death.

Esta segunda fase incorpora acciones vinculadas con el manejo de alimentos y de agua potable "para continuar un efectivo control de la enfermedad en todo el territorio nacional", informó el Ministerio de Salud Pública en un comunicado. 

This second phase includes measures linked to food management and potable water "to continue an effective control of the disease throughout the national territory," said the Minister of Public Health in a news release.

El tema fue acordado en la reunión de la Comisión Nacional de Lucha contra el Cólera, a la que se integraron las instituciones del sector agua, así como el Ministerio de Educación, señaló la fuente.

The theme was agreed to in a meeting of the National Commission of Struggle Against Cholera, integrating the institutions of the water sector as well as the Ministry of Education, according to the release.

Haiti: Government ready to give passport to Aristide

Via HaitiLibre.com: Haiti - NEWS FLASH : The Government ready to give a passport to Aristide. Not many details yet, but it's clearly an important development.

Ivory Coast: 41 cholera cases, 8 deaths

Via IRIN: COTE D'IVOIRE: Cholera claims eight lives in Abidjan. Excerpt:

Health experts and residents say poor hygiene exacerbated by growing piles of rubbish is largely to blame for a dry-season cholera outbreak in Côte d’Ivoire’s main city of Abidjan, which has killed eight people of 41 infected.  

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) deputy representative in Côte d’Ivoire Sylvie Dossou called the death rate "unacceptably high”. 

The diarrhoeal disease, contracted through contaminated food or water, generally occurs during the rainy season when flooding can contaminate water sources, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But outbreaks can also occur in the dry season, WHO says. 

The first case - in Abidjan’s Adjamé District (a poor neighbourhood that has seen severe post-election violence in recent weeks) - was registered in mid-January; the major rains ended in November. Cholera has also affected the district of Williamsville.

Haiti: Phase II of cholera management

Via Haiti MPHISE: UN Urges Massive Cholera Prevention Campaign. The blog administrator's introduction:

At the end of December 2010, the U.N. called for a massive effort to improve cholera prevention.  One month later, what is in place to demonstrate progress on this issue. The number of deaths and new infections are decreasing somewhat. However, this decrease is expected in the colder, dryer months. The key will be to ensure the prevention measures are distributed nation-wide across Haiti before the Spring rainy season.    

The need is clear. It is time to start ramping up a Haiti Phase II Nation-wide Cholera Epidemic Management System.