This is the dispatch we received last night from GlobalDIRT:
Ok, we have all the cursory but CONFIRMED epidemiological info of confirmed cases from the cholera camps in our area (confirmed by our ground crew and the [Haitian physician on-site]) :
First cases started trickling in in October 2011 in the Pestel/Desrivaux/Tozia area:
- October 2011: 115 cases
- November 2011: 118 cases
- December 2011: 116 cases
- January 1st-13th: 86 cases
- There have been 59 deaths between December 2011-January 2012
- Total: 445 cases since October, 59 deaths (13% case fatality rate)
- Approximately 1/4 of cases are/were children (~111 cases)
- Villages affected:
- Hiya : 20 cases
- Beaumont 31 cases
- Nanfont: 14 cases
- Cassanette: 15 cases
- Sebarier: 14 cases
- Amiel: 15 cases
- Feranse: 14 cases
- Larier: 14 cases
- Chapette: 2 cases
- Labondance: 3 cases
- Ganier: 3 cases
- Aucentre: 13 cases
- Mouline: 17 cases
- Lacadony: 6 cases
- Nan pomme: 8 cases
- Belecolle: 27 cases
We are still working on compiling lists of the water sources. The consensus is that right this moment the case volume is low, however, it is going to get A LOT worse over the next couple months.... Especially with the rainy season approaching. We need to be ready to respond to Zone 4 (about 2 dozen villages scattered within a couple hours of each other the next few weeks/months) Only "hospital" around is on Pestil and poorly equipped... More info to come
Best,
Global DIRT
The current operational posture of MSPP / CDC / PAHO is they do not leave Port au Prince to investigate and respond unless there is laboratory confirmation. We are fully aware it took them 72 hours to correct their own assertion there was no crisis in this region.
It is fortunate there are still NGOs with an ability to execute efficiently on the ground to help these villages. Here we observe the gross operational disconnect between public health and tactical infectious disease forecasting, early warning, and tight coupling to response. When one examines the amount of funding gone to public health's activities, that have been ongoing in Haiti without operational peer review, versus the reality of low cost, highly efficient "smart swarms" such as we are observing now converging on Pestel, it makes one wonder about where the United States' priorities are when expending money during a Recession. One thing is clear: USAID, the American Red Cross, CDC, and the State Department failed to provide funding support to US organizations actually doing the mission. Accountability, yet again, is quite a bitter pill to swallow.
At this point, HEAS partners are in the process of setting up four CTCs to handle the case load.
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