It’s been a little while since I last wrote about Cholera in Haiti. Unfortunately, the LA Times is reporting that with the return of the rainy season, Cholera is back in Haiti in force with 1,000 new cases a day being logged in June. And despite an initial surge after the outbreak to help by supplying toilets, the lack of any underlying waste treatment process has meant that the toilets are actually making matters worse by serving as collectors of untreated human waste.
Over 5,800 people have died from Cholera since the outbreak began last October. And unfortunately, that number looks certain to rise. When I last went there on a medical relief trip, I wrote an article praising my toilet (perhaps I should have been clearer that I also included the attached sewer and sanitation system). In the same article I also wrote about the need for oral rehydration therapy in combating Cholera and I am re-embedding the simple video and recipe that I created at that time in the hope that it will continue to get passed along as a simple and effective tool.