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