Monday, January 3, 2011

Cholera in Haiti


Cholera originated in the Indian subcontinent in ancient times, and has since affected numerous countries throughout the world. Although it can be treated, these treatments are often inaccessible in impoverished countries and the infection therefore continues to thrive. Cholera is currently an issue in Haiti, where it has already taken the lives of over 3,000 people.

Due to other issues in Haiti, such as the corrupt government and the devastation from the earthquake, cholera is taking a back seat to the other national problems and is not receiving the medical attention that it desperately needs. In this video from CNN.com, reporters discuss the chaos resulting from the corrupt Haitian government and the country's lack of attention to the cholera epidemic. As shown in the video, Haitians are forced to build a road block in order to get attention from the authorities when a body is found. The body was found "dumped on the side of the road" after a death due to cholera, and authorities did not arrive for several hours.

How can a country be so corrupt that the discovery of a dead body is ignored for such a long amount of time? This makes me wonder how many bodies of cholera victims remain lost and ignored in Haiti.

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