Haiti Earthquake: Over Half A Million Children At Risk Of Waterborne Diseases - UNICEF
NEW YORK (September 2, 2021) – About 540,000 children in the southwest of earthquake-stricken Haiti are now facing the possible re-emergence of waterborne diseases, UNICEF warned today.
Severe conditions in southwestern Haiti where over half a million children lack access to shelter, drinking water and hygiene facilities - are rapidly increasing the threat of acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, cholera and malaria.
“The lives of thousands of earthquake-affected children and families are now at risk, just because they don’t have access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene,” said Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Haiti. “Cholera has not been reported in Haiti since February 2019, yet without urgent and firmer action the re-emergence of cholera and other waterborne diseases is a real threat that is increasing by the day.”
Prior to the earthquake, only over half of the healthcare facilities in the three departments most affected by the earthquake had basic access to water services. In the aftermath of the earthquake, nearly 60 percent of people in the three most affected departments do not have access to safe water. Thousands of people whose houses have collapsed lack access to sanitation due in part to the damage wrought by the earthquake.
With the National Directorate for Water and Sanitation (DINEPA) and civil society partners, UNICEF is to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene for affected families:
- About 73,600 people receive access to safe water through water trucking systems, six water treatment plants and twenty-two bladders
- Over 35,200 people benefitted from the distribution of about 7,000 hygiene kits, including household water treatments products, soap, water storage, handwashing devices and hygiene pads.
A week after the earthquake devastated Haiti, UNICEF shipped more than 65,000 water purification tablets, 41 bladders, three water treatment units and family hygiene kits. UNICEF has already ordered 31,200 additional hygiene kits. UNICEF is the only UN agency delivering safe drinking water to the affected population, which aims to reach 500,000 people with WASH support.
“Our efforts to deliver more safe drinking water don’t match the dire needs in all the affected areas,” said Maes. “Impatience and sometimes frustration are mounting in some Haitian communities, and this is understandable. But obstructing relief operations won’t help. In the past few days, several distributions of essential hygiene items had to be temporarily put on hold as tensions arose on the ground. Together with financial constraints, insecurity is currently slowing down our lifesaving activities on the ground.”
UNICEF is calling on local authorities to ensure safe conditions for humanitarian organizations to operate and scale up relief assistance to earthquake-affected communities. The August 14th earthquake which struck Haiti has further exacerbated an already challenging humanitarian situation shaped by persistent political instability, socioeconomic crisis and rising food insecurity and malnutrition, gang-related violence and internal displacement, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Haitian-Dominican migration influx.
In addition to the $48.8 million appeal made for 2021, UNICEF is now requesting a humanitarian appeal for children (HAC), $73.3 million to scale up its interventions in response to the earthquake and the internally displaced persons. So far, less than 1 percent of this required funding has been received.
UNICEF is calling on the international community to urgently provide additional funding for the humanitarian response and prevent the emergence of waterborne diseases in Haiti after the earthquake.
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About UNICEF
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to pursue a more equitable world for every child. UNICEF has helped save more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization, by providing health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more.
UNICEF USA advances the global mission of UNICEF by rallying the American public to support the world’s most vulnerable children. Together, we are working toward a world that upholds the rights of all children and helps every child thrive. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org.
For more information please contact:
Erica Vogel, UNICEF USA, 212.922.2480, evogel@unicefusa.org
Lauren Davitt, UNICEF USA, 212.922.2503, ldavitt@unicefusa.org