Cholera Stricken Haiti Gets Help From Brazil
A military plane left Rio de Janeiro Thursday with supplies to aid in the cholera outbreak in Haiti. The first shipment of the promised $2 million in aid contained sodium hypochlorite, IV fluids, oral rehydration therapy, and injecting equipments according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Nine Brazilian professionals started training in the town of Carrefour earlier in the week, while two Brazilian epidemiologists were dispatched to Haiti with the shipment.
Brazil's aid arrives in Haiti as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) makes a recommendation of not using cholera vaccination immediately in Haiti's outbreak. PAHO recommends that preventative measures of future cholera outbreaks spearhead the focus of aid at this stage of Haiti's outbreak.
Cholera prevention comes from good hygiene, the washing of hands, and clean water.
PAHO also recommends against the use of injection vaccines based upon a WHO advisory on the use of vaccinations. Using injection vaccinations on a cholera outbreak are limited to a short-term fix.
The vaccines best for the current outbreak in Haiti are oral vaccinations. Two oral vaccinations, Dukoral and Shunchol, are available globally, but only one is authorized by WHO. Dukoral is authorized and will only be available in a limited amount of dosages.
Currently, both Haiti's Ministry of Culture and Communication along with the Ministry of Public Health and Population work to release national public messages on cholera prevention.
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