Cholera Response

For several weeks Yéle Haiti has been working with Partners in Health (PIH) – and more recently International Action and Clean the World – in coordination with the Haitian Ministry of Health, to deliver clean water to hospitals and communities in the Artibonite region where the cholera first appeared. Now Yéle is consulting with this same group of NGOs and others as we make plans for a major cholera prevention program to limit the spread of the disease to the 1.3 million people living in the tent camps in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

Yéle's program will have three major components:

Providing Clean Water: this involves re-directing Yéle’s existing programs for bulk water and pouch water to be part of the larger coordinated effort to contain cholera in Port-au-Prince. Yéle will continue to send daily bulk water deliveries of around 17,000 gallons a day to the Artibonite region under the direction of Partners in Health and the Ministry of Health. At the same time an additional 17,000 gallons a day, the current amount delivered by Yéle in Port-au-Prince, will be delivered to tent camps and targeted to be part of the coordinated cholera response.

Distributing Soap & Hand Sanitizer: Yéle will soon begin to deploy Yéle Corps workers to go tent to tent in the camps distributing soap and alcohol-based hand sanitizer along with Yéle’s pouch water.

Public Awareness Campaign: Yéle has enlisted Barikad Crew, the most popular hip hop group in Haiti, along with several other leading groups, to create radio jingles with messages about preventing cholera. The message will focus on using clean water, washing hands and improving sanitation. This message will also be translated into a pictogram instruction card with illustrated steps for preventing cholera, and this will be handed out by the Yéle Corps workers in the camps. The jingles will be aired extensively on radio and the various groups will make personal appearances in the camps and assist in the tent to tent distributions of soap, water and instruction cards.

PHOTO: People lined up for a Yéle distribution of bulk water in a community in the Artibonite region.