UN has moral responsibility to help Haitian cholera victims, says chief
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes that the global organization has a moral responsibility to help Haiti’s cholera victims and their families. He is currently working to develop material assistance for those affected by the disease, according to his spokesman.
The UN recently acknowledged its possible involvement in the introduction of cholera to Haiti six years ago. UN figures show that since then, the disease has infected 770,000 and killed more than 9,000.
A 2011 study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said UN peacekeepers from Nepal, where cholera is endemic, were the likely cause of the outbreak of the water-borne disease. The peacekeepers on mission in Haiti were stationed near a river and discharged raw sewage.
“The United Nations has a moral responsibility to the victims of the cholera epidemic and for supporting Haiti in overcoming the epidemic and building sound water, sanitation and health systems,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Cholera is an infection that causes severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration and death, and is caused by poor sanitation. It has not been documented in Haiti in almost 100 years before the 2010 outbreak.
“The Secretary-General deeply regrets the terrible suffering the people of Haiti have endured as a result of the cholera epidemic,” Haq said.
Ban had been seeking US$2.2 billion for a 10-year cholera-elimination campaign that he started in December 2012 with the presidents of Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic. But UN data shows that less than a quarter has been raised.
Ban is now working to develop a new response that will be presented within two months, Haq said.
He described it as “a package that would provide material assistance and support to those Haitians most directly affected by cholera.”
The UN does not legally accept responsibility for the outbreak. An independent panel appointed by Ban to study the epidemic issued a 2011 report that did not determine conclusively how the cholera was introduced to Haiti.
A US appeals court upheld the world body’s immunity from a damage claim filed by rights lawyers on behalf of those killed or sickened by cholera.
Haq said that over the past year the UN “has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera.”
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