Business View Caribbean - November 2016 9
“One month after the hurricane, life for more than
half a million children in Haiti is still far from back to
normal,” said Marc Vincent, Haiti representative for
the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a news release.
“Too many children are still homeless, hungry, out
of school, and in danger. We are scaling up our re-
sponse and are determined to help as many of them
as possible as fast as we can.”
UNICEF said there have been at least 1,000 sus-
pected cholera cases among children in the past
month. Out of 219 cholera treatment centers in the
country, 18 have been damaged in the worst-hit de-
partments of Grand’Anse and South, further compli-
cating efforts to contain the disease.
The total destruction the Category 4 storm inflicted
on crops, food stock, and livestock in some of the
worst affected areas have left over 800,000 people
in need of immediate food assistance and more
than 112,000 children at risk of acute malnutrition.
An estimated 50,000 children have been left home-
less and are staying in temporary shelters. Another
3,500 children living in institutions need help access-
ing nutrition, water, and sanitation services.
Up to 80 percent of hospitals and health centers
in Grand’Anse have lost their roofs. An additional
seven health centers in Grand’Anse, four in South
and three in Nippes are no longer operational. More
than 700 schools have been affected and about 86
schools have been used as temporary shelters,
causing school disruption for at least 150,000 chil-
dren.
UNICEF is working with national and other partners
to provide basic assistance to the most vulnerable
children. They are providing 100,000 people a day
with safe water, organizing a cholera vaccination
campaign that will be launched this week to immu-
nize up to 900,000 people and providing cholera pre-
vention kits that contain water purification tablets,
soap. and oral rehydration salts. Between 100 and
200 kits are distributed every day.
In addition, they are delivering an integrated pack-
age of services to prevent and treat malnutrition
among children under five as well as pregnant and
breastfeeding mothers living in the hurricane affect-
ed areas, replenishing vaccines and restoring the
cold chain so that routine immunization can resume
in the health centers that are still operational and in
mobile clinics, and distributing emergency medical
supplies to 18 health centers.
Joint actions also include setting up mobile child-
