The Cuban medical brigade in Haiti is in charge of most of the centers to treat cholera patients, informed a top official of the UN Stabilization Mission in that country (MINUSTAH).

The information was made public by Nigel Fisher, humanitarian coordinator for that contingent, by way of a teleconference with the press accredited at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.

The official expressed that these centers to treat cholera patients are part of the important work curried out to combat the epidemic that started a month ago, and in which professionals of the Doctors without Borders and other groups are also working.

Fisher explained that the disease has expanded to all of the departments of the Haitian territory and that almost 50 percent of the cases are found in Port-au-Prince, the capital.

However, he pointed out that the figure of people suffering from the disease, estimated at some 50,000, can actually be higher, since there are many rural communities about which there’s no information.

Until Monday, the figure of people who have died as a result of cholera was of over 1,200, said Fisher, who warned that the epidemic spreads fast and there’s no immunity against it.

In related news, the Brazilian Health Ministry will sign agreements with Cuba this week to help Haiti in its struggle against the cholera epidemic.

A communiqué by that entity, spread on the Internet, points out that the agreements are aimed at the preparation of protocols, the training of community agents and the creation of a center to treat the disease in that Caribbean country, a former French colony.

The text points out that Brazil and Cuba, with the participation of representatives from the offices of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) in Brazil and Haiti, will also sign an agreement for the creation of a Center for the Treatment of Cholera in the city of Correfour in Haiti.

It specifies that this center will be devoted to the attention of the population infected by the epidemic and adds that the Community Reference Unit, included in the agreement to be signed, will also be located in this building, where a course to train 60 health community agents is now being given.

The Cuban government will contribute physicians and nurses for the attention of cholera patients. "As soon as the estimate is concluded, the Health Ministry will authorize the transfer of the resources to the PAHO office in Haiti,” asserted Carlos Felipe D Oliveira, coordinator of the Brazil-Cuba-Haiti health management committee, reads a communiqué by the Health Ministry, cited by the Prensa Latina news agency.

The report adds that the Brazilian Health Ministry formalized on Tuesday with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), in Porto Alegre, a project to organize the service network and the strengthening of public health in Haiti, following the Single Health System.

The agreement, signed by Carlos Alexandre Netto, rector of the UFRGS, and D Oliveira, establishes that all activities will be organized with the cooperation of the health teams from Haiti and Cuba, composed of physicians, nurses and epidemiologists, concludes the source.

Translated by Daysi Olano

!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved."