Haiti Water Sanitation

By the end of 2010, more than 3,300 Haitians died of cholera in the earthquake ravaged country. More than 148,000 cases were diagnosed and 83,000 patients had been hospitalized according to Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health.

Spread through contaminated water and food, cholera causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. Some one million Haitians continue to live in camps; breeding grounds for cholera. However, it is a preventable and treatable disease.

LCMS World Relief and Human Care (WR-HC) is helping to fight the cholera outbreak:

Grants

In November 2010, WR-HC announced a total of $50,000 in grants for emergency supplies (including medicines, clean water and sanitary supplies), cholera prevention education and for a future needs assessment. Grant recipients are the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti (ELCH) and the Lutheran Church of Haiti (LCH).

These funds are in addition to a $5,000 grant awarded in October 2010 to the ELCH to buy hand sanitizer, disinfectant soap and cleaners, and bottled water to distribute through congregations to local communities.

Water filters

WR-HC, in partnership with FilterPure and Lutheran Church Charities, began shipment in November 2010 of 1,360 water filters to Haiti.The project goal is to provide a total of 5,000 water filters.

Each filter costs $30 and can provide a family of six with clean water for up to five years, as long as the filter is cleaned with a bleach and water solution.

Medicine and equipment

In November 2010, WR-HC helped provide $7,500 in medicine and equipment to the Hospital Sainte Therese de Hinche to treat cholera patients. Hospital staff had indicated that medicines to fight cholera were almost non-existent and other supplies were extremely low.