Natural hazards can influence the outbreak and spread of disease - Haiti - Communicable
Haiti earthquake 12 January 2010
Environmental factors
Haiti before the disease
Geographical area
Human factors
Impacts of the disease on resident populations
Strategies used to minimise the impacts at a national and international scale
145th out of 169 countries on the UN human development index
More than 70% of the people were living on less than $1-2 per day
90% of the people in Port-Au-Prince living in slum conditions
Outbreak of cholera 'El Tor' in October 2010 spread by aid workers coming from Nepal
Initially it was around the Artibonite river with all cases found below the town of Mirebalais
Later people migrated and moved until the spread of the disease covered the majority of Haiti
Communicable disease spread by relocation diffusion
Importance of the Artibonite River within peoples day-to-day lives. For rice growing, fishing, transportation and washing
Poverty stricken nature of Haiti meant that there was a significant lack of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
Large number of people were forced to use rivers for drinking, cooking, washing and as an alternative to latrines
Lack of general awareness of sanitation techniques such as hand washing and safely disposing of human waste
Most medical facilities were poorly funded and ill-equipped to sufficiently treat an epidemic of this scale.
Lack of space and facilities to contain the spread of disease among patients
In October 2013 there were more than 683,000 cases with a total of 8,400 deaths
Loss of family members. = Social issues
Rainfall and flooding helped to spread the contaminated water
Rainfall was low in October for the Artibonite valley so wasn’t a contributing factor
Hurricane Tomas 5th November 2010 caused rapid flooding leading to overflowing latrines and further spreading the infected water
Hurricane Sandy December 20100 led to a serious resurgence of the cholera infection
Filter and boil water. Mix with sugar and salt
Add chlorine drops and wait for 30 minutes
Washing hands with soap and clean water especially before cooking and consuming food
Digging latrines at least 30m away from the river