In the “best of times,” the island country of Haiti is a basket case, the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere. And now Haiti is being ravaged by a cholera epidemic.
Haiti shares an island east of Cuba with the Dominican Republic. Haiti has about 9 million people. And now it has cholera.
Cholera is a disease caused by a certain bacteria, and often is spread through infected drinking water and generally bad sanitation. Cholera causes serious vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration that can be so severe that it results in death.
Haiti, which suffered an earthquake in January, now has more than 3,000 people known to be suffering from cholera, with about 250 people dead so far and the disease spreading.
It is almost impossible for us to imagine the poverty in Haiti. And now cholera is adding to the suffering of its people.
Efforts are being made to limit the epidemic by warning the people to use only treated, safe drinking water, to wash their hands and avoid unsanitary situations. But those simple things, easy for us here, are difficult in Haiti.
International efforts are being made to help the threatened people.
We in the United States tend to take for granted the blessings of good food, clean water and excellent sanitation — things that are so often foreign to the Haitian people in their daily lives.