A patient being transferred after receiving care at La Paix University Hospital, in Delmas 33, Port-au-Prince, on November 8, 2024. Photo by Dieugo André for The Haitian Times.
By Juhakenson Blaise, The Haitian Times, May 19, 2025
Concern is mounting at the Bois-Verna displacement camp in Port-au-Prince after two children showed symptoms of chronic diarrhea on May 12. While not confirmed as cholera, the cases have heightened fears following four reported infections in April. Those patients were initially rushed to the overwhelmed Hôpital La Paix, which failed to provide adequate care, before being transferred to a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital on Delmas 33. Despite these warning signs, residents say authorities have yet to take rapid response measures to contain a potential outbreak.
“After the families informed us of these cases, the threat remains because no decontamination session has taken place in the camp,” Jhonny Élysée, president of the Bois-Verna camp committee, told The Haitian Times.
“We lack the materials to carry out the cleaning. Where we live, we are exposed to all kinds of diseases.”
Health risks are rising in Haiti’s displacement camps, where more than a million people live in precarious conditions after fleeing gang violence. Overcrowded shelters and poor sanitation have left them vulnerable to diseases like cholera, skin infections, and persistent diarrhea. The collapse of the healthcare system—marked by the shutdown of more than 30 hospitals and clinics due to attacks—has only deepened the crisis.
“We haven’t received any mobile clinics or emergency centers from the state after these cases, even though the problems are numerous,” Élysée added.
A concerning surge of cholera in early 2025
As of March 29, Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) had reported 1,298 suspected cholera cases, including nine confirmed and 19 deaths—marking a sharp rise in infections. Initial cases surfaced March 20 in at least three IDP sites in Port-au-Prince, where sanitation is severely lacking. Surges followed in Cité Soleil and Arcahaie, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The fatality rate now stands at 1.65%, surpassing the emergency threshold.
Even earlier, by early March, Doctors Without Borders had treated 148 patients at its Cité Soleil facility—including 19 new cases in a single day on March 6. In Bourdon, eight people died and several more were hospitalized in April, with residents linking the outbreak to the heavily polluted Bourdon ravine, their daily water source.
Outside the capital, rural areas are also seeing deadly spikes. In Fonds Baptiste, Arcahaie—40 miles north of Port-au-Prince—23 people died and over 80 were hospitalized in March. Locals opened a Cholera Treatment Center, but staff and resources remain scarce.
After a screening in November 2024, cholera cases were also reported in municipalities across Artibonite. A vaccination campaign launched Dec. 19 showed early success, but misinformation has slowed broader uptake.
However, while the officials reported early successes, such as exceeding vaccination targets in certain areas, persuading all residents to get the vaccine remains a battle due to disinformation.
In a public statement in march, Doctors Without Borders emphasized the urgent need for universal access to safe drinking water and medical care to halt the spread of cholera.
And with the rainy season underway, the risk of transmission is increasing, especially in displacement camps. “For example, people don’t have tarps to protect themselves from the rain, there is no lighting, and the sanitation areas are hazardous to our health,” Élysée noted.
A renewed fight for Haiti to achieve zero cholera again
Haiti went more than a century without a cholera case until 2010, when UN peacekeepers from Nepal contaminated the Artibonite River with infected wastewater. The outbreak quickly spread, sickening an estimated 820,300 people and killing nearly 10,000, according to a UN report.
After years of coordinated public health efforts, Haiti reported its last confirmed case in January 2019. PAHO and WHO declared the disease eliminated in February 2022.
That progress unraveled in October 2022, when new infections surfaced in Port-au-Prince during a period of civil unrest and deepening humanitarian crisis. Cholera is once again spreading, particularly among people displaced by gang violence—underscoring the country’s fragile health system and the urgent need for access to clean water and sanitation in camps and high-risk areas.
Posted May 22, 2025