AUSTRALIAN High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago and Plenipotentiary Representative to CARICOM, Philip Kentwell, who made a   donation of children’s books on climate change to the National Library in Georgetown, said that Australia has joined the fight to help Haiti combat one of the most severe outbreaks of cholera seen in the last century.
More than 1700 people have died from the disease since the Haiti Ministry of Health confirmed an outbreak of the disease on October 21, with more than 34,000 cases reported.
According to information posted on the High Commission’s website last Tuesday, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia is helping reduce deaths and sickness and limiting the impact of the cholera outbreak by providing $1M to the United Nations Haiti Cholera Appeal.
This assistance is in addition to Australia’s $24M contribution in response to the January 12 earthquake.
Australia’s contribution will be channelled through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which is providing clean water, water purification tablets, hygiene kits and other essential life-saving supplies to communities in Haiti.
“The cholera outbreak in Haiti is made more complex by the devastating humanitarian impact of the January 12 earthquake which killed an estimated 230,000 people and made nearly 1.5 million people homeless,” Rudd said.
Continuing, he said that the United Nations predicts that up to 200,000 Haitians could contract cholera over the next six to 12 months as the outbreak extends across the country. He said there is great concern for the 1.3 million people still living in makeshift camps throughout Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country following the earthquake.
Visit www.trinidadtobaggo.embassy.gov.au for more information.