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| Cholera Outbreak in Haiti |
The cholera outbreak in Haiti has claimed more than 4,500 lives, resembling a strain that is fast spreading in South Asian country. It has been accused that the strain was introduced into Haiti by UN peacekeepers from Nepal and eventually caused a heavy violent anti-UN riots. However, UN and Nepalese authorities straightly denied the charges.
The United Nation in a declaration said that the report did not produce any conclusive and scientific evidence of a cholera link with UN peacekeepers. Further, the organization blamed a "confluence of circumstances" for the involvement in the outbreak.
Haiti has been suffering from different calamities since early 2010 when a devastating earthquake destroyed a major part of the country. After 10 months of the devastation, the epidemic spread and effected about 300,000 people.
According to a report by UN investigators, the outbreak was caused due human activity, blaming to the contamination of the Meye tributary system, near the Mirebalais camp housing Nepalese peacekeepers.
In its earlier report UN dismissed the report as rumors when it was alleged that the human fecal waste leaked into river systems caused the disease. In the report it gave the green signal to sanitary conditions for Nepalese peacekeepers. Now, in a recent report the panel said the sanitary condition at the base were not adequate and perhaps a cause for contamination.
Nevertheless, Michel Bonnardeaux, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping department, told Reuters news agency said the investigation panel didn't find any scientific evidence that proved the outbreak caused by Minustah peacekeepers or the Mirabalais camp.
May 06, 2011 | 0
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