On Cholera + Elections

Everybody thought that after the January 12 earthquake, an outbreak of diarrheal disease was inevitable and would be tragic for Haiti.

Instead, we were hit with cholera 10 months after the quake and the timing is just as bad or worse than it would have been if cholera hit us in February.

Between the voodoo and a history of traumatic political leadership, Haitians are a suspicious people.  Remember World Handwashing Day on October 15th?  Some may call it fortuitous that World Handwashing Day messages on good hygiene and diarrhea prevention and treatment were still being disseminated when the first case of cholera was confirmed a week later.  Some people though it was no coincidence: that the government (or whomever) knew cholera was going to hit.  Keep in mind that presidential elections are on November 28 - everyone is expecting some sort of funny business.

Last Saturday, I had organized an event for the PSI all-staff meeting for everyone to practice doing marketplace promotions of our products.  This was done on the PSI compound but afterwards the group went into the camp next door to talk one-on-one with the residents on prevention of cholera (handwashing, water treatment, ORS). I was in Jupiter that day, but when I asked my colleagues about it later, ALL of them said they faced resistance to the cholera prevention messages because some people blew cholera off as "politics."

I'm not really sure what that means.  It could mean that the cholera epidemic is a fabrication of the government  - a pre-election strategy of some kind.  Some people clearly think that UN troops from Nepal are responsible for the outbreak, as demonstrated by violent protests yesterday in Cap-Haitian (no where near me).  Political candidates in next week's elections are apparently fueling this fire and vowing to get to the bottom of "this" (the origin of the epidemic?) and hold the UN (or whomever) accountable.

Given that the US mission here is the only assurance of violence-free elections, leading the population to believe the peacekeeping troops are responsible for cholera is not in the interest of anyone interested in free and fair elections.