Cholera prevention campaign on in earnest

PORT-AU-PRINCE (CMC):

More than 166,000 people have been registered as cholera patients in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, as the authorities warn against complacency ahead of the rainy season that starts in June.

Coordinator for the government's new prevention plan, Helman Ceneus, said as of May 5 this year, 166, 460 people had been registered in Port-au-Prince suffering from the disease, of which 1,705 had died.

Cholera, a disease caused by the vibrio cholerae bacteria, is not fatal if treated in time and can be prevented by following proper sanitary guidelines.

On Monday, Brignol Boulin, head of the Health Ministry's Preventive Attention Department in West Department, said the public should guard against being complacent, especially in the capital where one-fourth of all cholera cases have occurred.

Earlier this month, a United States-based human rights group said it had given the United Nations (UN) 60 days to reach a compensation deal or face a lawsuit from victims of Haiti's cholera epidemic.

The United Nations has already indicated that it is immune from legal action over the epidemic that has afflicted some half a million people.

But the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti said it is ready to open legal proceedings in New York, with claims totalling billions of dollars unless the United Nations adheres to the deadline.

The group has blamed UN peacekeepers for introducing the disease into the French-speaking Caribbean Community country.