International
U.S. Congress Members Call UN to Take Responsibility for Cholera in Haiti
- Saturday, July 21, 2012 9:12 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. (defend.ht) - “As cholera was brought to Haiti due to the actions of the U.N., we believe that it is imperative for the U.N. to now act decisively to control the cholera epidemic,” said the letter from U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr. and signed by 103 other representatives to Ambassador Susan E. Rice to the United Nations.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (defend.ht) - “As cholera was brought to Haiti due to the actions of the U.N., we believe that it is imperative for the U.N. to now act decisively to control the cholera epidemic,” said the letter from U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr. and signed by 103 other representatives to Ambassador Susan E. Rice to the United Nations.
The letter was sent on Friday and members of the House of Representatives allege that the UN presence in Haiti inadvertently led to the cholera epidemic of October 2010.
Since mid-April, cholera has killed an additional 400 Haitians and sickened 50,000 more, according to Haitian government statistics. This brings the official death toll to 7,442 and the caseload to 580,947 since the first cases were detected in October 2010.
The letter calls for the United Nations to push harder to find financing for water and sanitation systems to control the epidemic.
