Washington, D.C., 11 December 2012 — The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, today strongly welcomed the announcement by the United Nations’ Secretary-General of support for efforts to eliminate cholera transmission from Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced $23.5 million in new funds from the United Nations and $215 million in existing bilateral and multilateral funds to support the ongoing cholera elimination efforts. Just over the next two years, $500 million will be needed in Haiti alone. The announced funding will reinforce the broader “Call for Action for a Cholera-free Hispaniola” launched in January 2012 by the Presidents of Haiti and the Dominican Republic with support from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Continue reading »

Washington, DC, 17 October 2012  — Marking the fifth annual Global Handwashing Day on October 15, and approaching the second anniversary of the first case of reported cholera in Haiti in 2010, Partners in Health, Veolia Environment Foundation, Zanmi Lasante, and Catholic Relief Services became the newest members of the Regional Coalition on Water and Sanitation for the Elimination of Cholera in the Island of Hispaniola. Continue reading »

Washington, D.C., August 16, 2012 (PAHO/WHO) — Elimination of cholera transmission on the Island of Hispaniola can be achieved by increasing and sustaining access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation, according to experts of the Pan American Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (TAG). Reaching the long-term goal will be greatly aided with complementary short-term actions such as the expanded use of oral cholera vaccine, the group further noted during a meeting held on August 14, 2012 at PAHO’s Washington, D.C, Headquarters. Continue reading »