13 results for tag: cholera
Renewed hope in the new year and proud reflections of the past year
Members of the SOIL EkoLakay team.
It’s the beginning of a new year and the SOIL team is heading into 2023 with renewed hope and mindful optimism. Despite the ongoing political, social & health-related challenges of last year that significantly impacted our staff and our customers, there are also great achievements to celebrate, particularly among the members of our team in Haiti, who, despite the considerable hardships, worked tirelessly and together and didn’t lose hope. We are deeply grateful to each and every one. In October, when the first new cases of cholera were reported, SOIL sprang into action, understanding that our EkoLakay ...
Eight Years of Cholera is Eight Years Too Many
Photo: Monica Wise A cholera epidemic began in Haiti in October 2010 and continues to sicken and kill people through the country to this day. How did this happen and what can be done to stop it?
One of the Largest Outbreaks in Modern History Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium vibrio cholerae. Although cholera is an easily treatable disease, rapid access to treatment is essential as people can die within hours if it’s left untreated. Cholera did not exist in Haiti before 2010. Shortly after the earthquake, the United Nations brought in a group of peacekeepers from ...
AJ+: Turning Deadly Poop Into Fertile Soil
Turning Deadly Poop Into Fertile Soil Haiti is fighting cholera by turning human poop into rich fertilizer. Posted by AJ+ on Sunday, February 26, 2017 Other Recent SOIL Coverage
Hurricane Matthew: Lessons Learned
On October 1st, Hurricane Matthew turned just a few degrees to the east putting the southern peninsula of Haiti directly in its path. Three days later, 142 mph winds ripped over small mountain villages and coastal cities damaging or destroying nearly 150,000 homes and more than 80% of regional crops and livestock. Communities were inundated with rains, flooding latrines and septic tanks. Less than two months later, just as Haiti disappears from the headlines, the true effects of Hurricane Matthew are starting to hit. More than 3,500 suspected cases of cholera, a disease unknown to Haiti before it was introduced by the negligence of the United ...
CEPR: "As Cholera Continues to Spread, Some Turn to Composting to Help Fight it"
Originally posted on March 11, 2013 by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). For reference links, see original article. As of March 4, 2013, cholera has killed 8,057 Haitians and infected nearly 650,000 more. Despite some claims of progress, the epidemic, which was introduced by United Nations troops, has been significantly worse in 2013 than during the same period the year before. From January 1, 145 cholera victims have officially been reported dead, compared to just 22 last year. Worse, this occurred during the dry season, when cases generally taper off. The latest bulletin from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian ...
Resource Magazine: "Haiti Fights Cholera by Recycling Human Waste"
Written March 11, 2013 by Annie Reece for Resource Magazine A non-profit organisation dedicated to ‘protecting soil resources, empowering communities and transforming wastes into resources’ in Haiti is fighting a cholera epidemic in the Caribbean country by recycling human waste. Cholera – a waterborne disease that spreads through faeces-infected water and can be deadly – has reached epidemic proportions in Haiti. According to the World Health Organization, Haiti accounted for 58 per cent of all cholera cases (and 37 per cent of cholera deaths) in 2011. To help stem the spread of the disease, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods ...
Waterborne Disease Hits Close to Home
The past couple of weeks have been a new kind of learning experience for Sasha and myself, as we, along with several other people in our neighborhood, came down with Typhoid Fever. Although it hasn't been a fun or easy experience, Sasha and I count ourselves incredibly lucky and grateful to have access to medical facilities and treatment, and most especially to have a safe and comfortable place to convalesce and to call home. We are ever more aware of the precariousness of life for most people in Haiti, who often do not have access to any form of health care, and all too often do not have a home. Additionally, this experience highlights the incredi...
Theo Talks Episode 4: Raising Cholera Awareness with Madanm Bwa
Join Regional Director Theo on his latest Adventure in EcoSan as he journeys through the streets of Shada with longtime SOIL friend and community activist Madanm Bwa, raising awareness about the risks of cholera and methods to prevent its transmission. The message that Madanm Bwa brings is especially important in the wake of so much flooding in Northern Haiti, raising the risks of contracting cholera, and making prevention even more difficult. Check out the video below! Check out the full Theo Talks series.
Onearth: Preventing Cholera’s Spread in Earthquake-Ravaged Haiti
By Genevra Pittman, Onearth Magazine, November 18, 2010 When Haiti’s cholera outbreak hit tent camps around Port-au-Prince in early November, Sasha Kramer was ready. Kramer is the executive director of SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods), an organization she co-founded in 2006. SOIL’s mission is to turn human waste in impoverished Haitian communities into fertilizer for agriculture -- improving public health and empowering people. She was working in Haiti even before the January 2009 quake. After the disaster, Oxfam asked her group to build toilets for displaced residents now living in tents. (See "The Virtues of Human ...