PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept 4 (NNN-TELESUR) — The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that at least 540,000 children in Haiti are at risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea in the earthquake aftermath.
“Severe conditions in southwestern Haiti where over half a million children lack access to shelter, drinking water, and hygiene facilities – are rapidly increasing the threat of acute respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, cholera and malaria,” UNICEF explained.
“In the aftermath of the earthquake, nearly 60 percent of people in the three most affected departments do not have access to safe water,” the organization added, remarking that although cholera has not been reported in Haiti since 2019, now it has become “a real threat.”
Moreover, UNICEF recalled that before the earthquake, only over half of the healthcare facilities in the three departments most affected by the earthquake had basic access to water services. Hence the natural disaster worsened an already existing crisis that jeopardizes the lives of thousands of children.
