Building hygiene infrastructure is key to ending Haitian cholera epidemic, agree agencies

Two years after the earthquake that devastated Haiti international health experts have called for action to improve water and sanitation infrastructure to ensure that the cholera epidemic that followed the disaster is eliminated from the country.

Officials from the Pan American Health Organization, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the governments of Haiti and its neighbour, the Dominican Republic, said the ultimate goal was to ensure that cholera does not remain endemic in the two countries. They were speaking at a press briefing to launch a call for action to end cholera on the island.

Even before the earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, the water and sanitation infrastructure in the country was one of the least …