Haiti cholera High alert'

As Haiti fights a cholera outbreak that has killed almost 200 people and spread to thousands more, Oxfam tells Channel 4 News it has ramped up its presence and "everyone is on high alert".

Haiti cholera outbreak: Oxfam steps up aid efforts (Image: Getty)

Oxfam's Julie Schindall, who has been in Haiti since March, said Oxfam has mobilised extra specialists to set up water, sanitation and hygiene programmes for the charity’s assigned zone – a habitat of 100,000 people.

Ms Schindall told Channel 4 News that with the source of the outbreak still unknown, aid workers have to move quickly to contain it.

She fears the spread of cholera could be spurred on by the celebration of a public holiday in Haiti at the beginning of November. "There's a major festival over the November 1st holiday period – when lots of people will be moving around. We have to move very very quickly."

Ms Schindall said the government, which is leading the response, has the holiday "on their radar".

(source:channel4.com)

The Ministry of Public Health is reporting more than 1,500 cases of cholera in the worst medical emergency since the devastating earthquake in January that killed up to 300,000 people.

Ms Schindall said Oxfam met with officials from the UN, the Haiti government and other non-government organisations (NGOs) to co-ordinate the response to the outbreak – which is centred on the Lower Artibonite region, north of the capital Port-au-Prince.

The worst-affected areas are in Douin, Marchand Dessalines and around Saint-Marc in the Artibonite region.

Doctors fear the outbreak could spread to the crowded tent camps, which are home to millions of people left homeless by the January 12 quake.

A vast aid infrastructure has been set up in the wake of the earthquake, said Ms Schindall, which has helped to co-ordinate aid responses.

However, after President Rene Preval's confirmation last night that cholera was spreading, aid agencies stepped up their efforts.

Ms Schindall told Channel 4 News: "Everyone is on high alert. You could tell just from the amount of traffic in the city – it's very busy. I don’t want to scaremonger but it could get worse and the logistics are enormous."

She said Oxfam's first step would be to distribute clean water and to prevent the spread of dehydration. "Cholera kills fast, but it is treatable – preventing it is the best way of treating it," she added.

Cholera is not transmitted by person-to-person contact but through contaminated water, food and body fluids.

While this is the first outbreak of cholera in a century, the authorities have urged people not to panic, saying the deadly dehydration caused by cholera could be easily treated by drinking boiled water mixed with sugar and salt.

While no cases have been reported in Haiti's rubble-strewn capital, where 1.3m homeless are living in tent cities after the earthquake, reported cases of the illness have been creeping closer to the city in the past 24 hours.

Dr Jon Arbus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organisation, said: "One of the simplest things they can do is frequent handwashing. Personal hygiene. That does wonders. Safe water, chlorine is being provided so to take advantage of those measures that will ensure that anything ingested whether it be water or food is properly prepared and that the source of the water is safe and adequately treated."