Cholera Death Toll In Haiti Hits 1,250 - Debate Swirls On Whether To Hold Elections Next Week - AFP

[hatrack]

Haiti's raging cholera epidemic showed no sign of relenting Sunday with the death toll rising to 1,250, amid debate over whether to delay next week's key election until the outbreak is brought under control.

Aid groups sought to ramp up their work in the wake of deadly violence which had hampered the anti-cholera battle, while the United Nations starkly warned that the global community has lagged in its assistance since the epidemic began in October.

"The number of (cholera) focal points of infection are increasing, and those that appeared a month ago are not extinguished," said French doctor Gerard Chevallier, a cholera specialist studying the epidemic and advising Haiti's Health Ministry.

"There were about 20 communities at the beginning of the cholera, and there are now about 50 to 100 communities affected," he told AFP. Among them is the teeming capital Port-au-Prince, where authorities now report 64 deaths from the disease, including 20 children under age five.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/No_let-up_in_Haiti_cholera_epidemic_one_week_from_elections_999.html

[XemaSab]

1. There is not a SINGLE wastewater treatment plant in Haiti

:o

[GliderGuider]

2. I had no idea.

Hard times come again no more.