NewsDesk @bactiman63

Since the notification of the first two confirmed cases of Vibrio cholerae O1 in the greater Port-au-Prince area on 2 October 2022, to 23 December 2022, the Haitian Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population reported a total of 19,378 suspected cases in 10 departments of the country, including 1,427 confirmed cases, 16,581 hospitalized suspected cases, and 355 registered deaths.

Nine departments have confirmed cases (Artibonite, Centre, Grand-Anse, Nippes, Nord, Nord-Ouest, Ouest, Sud and Sud-Est).

To date, the case fatality rate among suspected cases is 1.8%.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says the current conditions in Haiti must be considered when analyzing the epidemiological situation of this cholera outbreak using the available official data. Epidemiological surveillance is affected due to the complex humanitarian and security crisis, added to the limited access to fuel throughout the country, resulting in limited access to health services and laboratories. Moreover, most of the population in the country is in a highly vulnerable situation in the face of established cholera transmission chains in the departments and communes. The humanitarian crisis and insecurity have exacerbated in recent months. This has considerably undermined the efforts of the MSPP and other organizations to implement prevention and control measures, including epidemiological surveillance, leading to underreporting of cases.