Cholera Concern in Haiti, Relief Supplies En Route
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 10, 2016) In the midst of Food For The Poor’s biggest delivery of aid to Haiti since the 2010 earthquake, the country is bracing for a rise in cholera cases less than a week after Hurricane Matthew killed hundreds, destroyed homes and knocked out supplies of clean food and water.
Food For The Poor has shipped critically needed items including food, water, blankets and hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste and other personal care items to help prevent the spread of disease. The charity is also trying to secure antibiotics and oral rehydration salts to treat cholera victims.
Damage from Hurricane Matthew and lack of access to fresh water is facilitating the spread of the potentially deadly disease.
“The situation in Haiti is serious. The people of Haiti need help, and they needed it ‘yesterday,'” said Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor’s President/CEO. “We have shipped supplies and we will send more but these people need everybody’s help.”
The latest information from Haiti:
- Access to clean water is a matter of life and death. Food For The Poor has moved quickly to ship and install eight solar-powered water filtration units, including three in Les Cayes, three in Jeremie, one in Torbeck and one in Port Salut.
- Water Mission, in partnership with Food For The Poor, is helping to install the water filtration units. The filtration systems each can provide up to 10,000 gallons of water per day and reduce waterborne diseases by removing suspended pathogens.
- Aid is being sent today to Jeremie by road, which was damaged by Hurricane Matthew and rebuilt by the government.
- Additional relief is heading today by barge to Pestel, east of Jeremie on the north coast, which is only accessible by boat.
- Nine 40-foot containers of aid were sent by barge to Jeremie on Friday and Saturday from Food For The Poor’s Haiti warehouse.
The dead in Haiti from Hurricane Matthew number in the hundreds. The Associated Press reported an official in Grand-Anse saying at least 522 deaths were confirmed there alone, not including people in remote communities still cut off by collapsed roads and bridges. Reuters put the number at more than 1,000, based on a tally of numbers from local officials.
The central government in Haiti said Sunday its official count for the whole country was 336, including 191 deaths in Grand-Anse.
Support from generous donors is critical for the long-term continuity of Food For The Poor’s relief effort.
Here is a video of Robin Mahfood, Food For The Poor’s President/CEO, talking about the situation in Haiti: www.FoodForThePoor.org/hurricanerelief.
To help storm victims in Haiti, cash donations are best. To help right now, please call 1-800-427-9104 or visit www.FoodForThePoor.org/hurricane.
For those who would rather donate goods, Food For The Poor is accepting canned meats, canned fish and canned milk at its Coconut Creek warehouse at 6401 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, Fla. 33073. At this time, the charity is not accepting clothing donations.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]
