MEDECINS DU MONDE - Haiti, Forgotten Cholera Outbreak

Seven years after the earthquake which killed more than 200,000 people and three months after renewed devastation by Hurricane Matthew, Haiti seems condemned to tragedy.

Cholera, which first broke out on the island in 2010 in the aftermath of the earthquake, has killed 10,000 people to date and made hundreds of thousands more sick, causing severe economic and social problems for the country.

Hurricane Matthew revived the fear of another large-scale, lethal outbreak of the disease. However, thanks to the prevention and awareness efforts of a number of organisations, countless deaths have been prevented. With the right treatment, cholera is not fatal, but those infected must receive health care as quickly as possible. Awareness of the basic rules of hygiene is crucial, as is the decontamination of houses damaged by the hurricane.

We report from the department of Grande Anse in the south-west of the country, one of the areas most heavily affected by Hurricane Matthew and prone to cholera.

These pictures were taken in December 2016.

NGO DESCRIPTION

Working in France and 64 countries worldwide, Doctors of the World – Médecins du Monde is an independent international movement of campaigning activists who provide care, bear witness and support social change. Through our 355 innovative medical programmes and evidence-based advocacy initiatives, we enable excluded individuals and their communities to access health and fight for universal access to healthcare.

www.medecinsdumonde.org

BIOGRAPHY

Brussels-based photojournalist Olivier Papegnies is a member of the Huma collective. His work has been published worldwide, in media across Belgium and abroad. He frequently collaborates with La Libre Belgique alongside a range of NGOs, such as Doctors of the World and Handicap International.

Olivier is the recipient of the Special Jury Prize from the Festival of Scoop and Journalism in Angers for his coverage of the chemical Agent Orange in Vietnam, entitled ‘Apocalypse Children’. In 2010, he was attributed the Belfius Prize for the best press photography in Belgium; in 2011, the Nikon Press Photo Award (NPPA) for his report on the earthquake that shook Haiti; and in 2012, the Journalism Prize by the Federation Wallonia–Brussels honouring his work called ‘Fous d’Amour’ dealing with love and mental illness. In 2015, he was rewarded with a grant provided by the Journalism Fund in order to realise a reportage about Christian communities living in Lebanon.

His work is focused on human issues. Disabled people, the environment,vulnerable human beings are his subjects of predilection.