With the arrival of the rainy season, cholera cases have increased significantly acrosss Haiti. Merlin plans to respond to the worsening situation by setting up two, 30 bed Cholera Treatment Units (CTUs) and Oral Rehydration Points (ORPS) within villages and rural communities. Merlin is preparing for a six month scale-up of our existing emergency cholera response program to correspond with Haiti's rainy season. With cholera outbreaks, speed of treatment is essential.
With each rainy season the numbers of people with cholera rises dramatically. With out an appropriate, rapid response, severe illness & death can occur. In one CTU between Nov 2010 & Apr 2012 Merlin staff treated 2,725 new cholera patients following continued outbreaks. With the onset of the current rainy season, this same Unit has already cared for over 80 patients in the first two weeks of May 2012. At the peak of a past outbreak, over 340 people were admitted to the Unit in one month.
Merlin will scale-up two CTUs to a max. of 30 beds each. We will also train staff, offer ambulance support & provide sufficient drugs & supplies. Each Unit will be staffed 24/7 by approx. 20 staff, in 3 shifts of 6 staff. Staff will include doctors, nurses, health promoters, sprayers & hygienists. Merlin will also set up ORPs, providing communities with direct access to oral re-hydration salts & emergency care & run hygiene awareness sessions.
Establishing and running CTUs, ORPs and health and hygiene awareness sessions on how to prevent the spread of cholera, will help prevent needless illness and death. Over time it is hoped that local Ministries of Health and individual communities will be able to effectively and efficiently manage the annual threat of cholera outbreaks, due in part to the knowledge obtained and the support offered by Merlin staff now.
