Keeping Disease at Bay in the Camps of Port-au-Prince (PBS Newshour) – The tent camps of Port-au-Prince have all the makings of disease breeding grounds; thousands of people living in temporary shelters, in very close contact, completely reliant on aid for clean water and sanitation services.
What hasn’t happened is a widespread outbreak of any of the highly contagious illnesses like measles, diphtheria and water-borne conditions like diarrheal disease, which can be especially deadly to children.
Those results can be attributed to a massive effort to truck and pipe potable water to camps and provide latrines and sanitation services, a large vaccination campaign, and an early warning surveillance system for pockets of disease.
The water cluster is working to connect more camps with Port-au-Prince’s existing water system and make repairs to that system, in order to continue providing clean water and prevent the spread of disease.
Read full PBS Newshour article.
