Haiti+Source+3

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"UN to Set up Taskforce in Wake of Report into Source of Haitian Cholera Outbreak." //Welcome to the United Nations: It's Your World//. UN News Centre, 4 May 2011. Web. 30 Sept. 2011. .

**__15 Facts:__**
 * 1) 4 May 2011 – An independent panel set up by the United Nations to investigate the source of the cholera outbreak
 * 4,500 lives in Haiti since it emerged last October
 * 1) not the fault of any group or individual, was responsible for the fast-moving outbreak
 * 2) The report of the four-member panel of experts, released today, includes a series of recommendations for the UN and the Haitian Government so they can help prevent the future introduction and spread of cholera within the impoverished Caribbean country.
 * 3) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that he plans to convene a task force to study the report’s findings “to ensure prompt and appropriate follow-up.”
 * 4) 300,000 Haitians have been sickened since the outbreak started and fresh infections and deaths continue to occur.
 * 5) Scientific analysis indicate that the bacteria did not originate from the native environment of Haiti, but from a strain “very similar but not identical” to South Asian strains currently circulating within Asia.
 * 6) The outbreak was able to spread so quickly and widely through the Artibonite River delta and eventually all of Haiti because of a series of factors
 * 7) The introduction of this cholera strain as a result of environmental contamination with faeces could not have been the source of such an outbreak without simultaneous water and sanitation and health-care system deficiencies,” the report concludes.
 * 8) Mr. Ban said he would carefully consider the report’s findings and recommendations and stressed that the UN would continue to support the Government and people of Haiti as they battle the cholera epidemic.
 * 9) Tens of thousands of Haitians use the river system for washing, bathing, drinking and recreation
 * 10) Thousands of agriculture workers are regularly exposed to the river waters, especially those working in rice paddy fields
 * 11) The local population lacked immunity to cholera
 * 12) The country suffers from poor water and sanitation conditions;
 * 13) Infected individuals fled to their home communities after the initial outbreak, thus dispersing the outbreak.