Provide medical care to Haiti

“When I first started to feel sick, it was only a stomach ache,” twenty-year-old Luvienne remembers. “Then I had diarrhea. People said I might have cholera.” Cholera is endemic in Haiti, and, if left untreated, can kill within hours. Luvienne knew she was in a dangerous condition and traveled to the nearest health facility, which transported her by ambulance to International Medical Corps’ cholera treatment center in Les Anglais, a town in southwest Haiti.

In October 2016, Les Anglais was directly in the path of Hurricane Matthew, which made landfall as a powerful category 4 storm, packing winds of 145 miles per hour, dumping as much as 40 inches of rain in some areas and causing a seven-to-ten foot storm surge. The resulting floods, along with damaged infrastructure, led to a deadly outbreak of cholera.

We partnered with the Haiti Ministry of Public Health and Population, along with other global and local organizations, to help prevent cholera with water and sanitation improvements as well as a one-dose cholera vaccination campaign that reached more than 735,000 adults and children over one year old. We also established or operated three cholera treatment centers to treat people with suspected cholera and created 13 oral rehydration points to fight early symptoms quickly in more remote locations. Throughout the cholera response, our teams promoted safe hygiene practices and supported household disinfection.

By the time Luvienne arrived at the cholera treatment center in Les Anglais, she was severely dehydrated, but just 24 hours later her symptoms began to subside. Within days, she and other critically ill patients had regained their health thanks to rehydration and treatment with antibiotics and were able to return to their homes.

We would like to thank the GlobalGiving community for continuing to support our work providing medical care in Haiti.