Haiti electoral unrest could hurt cholera fight

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for a speedy solution to the political crisis in Haiti after Sunday’s first round of elections.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for a speedy solution to the political crisis in Haiti after Sunday’s first round of elections, warning that worsening security would hamper efforts to fight the cholera epidemic in a country already devastated by January’s earthquake.

“The Secretary-General is concerned following the incidents that marked the first round of the presidential and legislative elections in Haiti on Sunday,” a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesman said.

“The Secretary-General looks forward to a solution to the political crisis in the country and calls on the Haitian people and all political actors to remain calm, since any deterioration in the security situation will have an immediate impact on the efforts to contain the ongoing cholera epidemic.”

Some of the 18 presidential candidates have repudiated the vote and their supporters have mounted protests.

Meanwhile, the number of cholera cases and deaths continues to rise with no significant shift in the overall situation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported yesterday, noting that the north of the country remains the area with the highest caseload.

As of the end of last week, more than 1,600 people have died and some 50,000 have been infected since the epidemic began in October.

In the capital 50 deprived neighbourhoods, home to around 1 million people, are especially vulnerable to cholera – which is spread through contaminated food and water – due to poor access to safe water, inadequate sanitation and high population density. Preparations are in place across the country to respond more forcefully as the epidemic spreads, OCHA said.

The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional arm of the UN World Health Organization (WHO), estimated that as many as 400,000 people could become ill, with half of those cases in the coming three months. Calculations reflect a worst case scenario that is avoidable if all sectors of society and health partners are able to step up their actions.

Working closely with PAHO/WHO, OCHA has put together a list of the infrastructure, institutional and personnel needs to respond to the epidemic. There are currently 40 Cholera Treatment Centres (CTCs) and 61 Cholera Treatment Units (CTUs). More are needed, with humanitarian partners working to increase the numbers and bed capacity.

To respond to needs for water chlorination in households, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has 190 million Aquatabs and 1.5 million bars of soap in the pipeline, and nutritional efforts are focused on mitigating the impact of cholera on children under five, pregnant and/or lactating women, and other vulnerable groups by maximizing prevention efforts.

Haiti is still struggling to recover from the January quake, which killed some 200,000 people and displaced more than one million others, many of whom are still living in crowded camps.

EUR 264 million to help African and Caribbean nations

The European Union approves EUR 264 million to help African and Caribbean nations weather the global economic crisis.

Brussels, 2 September 2010,– The European Commission approved the first financing decisions under the EUR 264 million 2010 allocation for the so-called Vulnerability FLEX mechanism to help the most vulnerable African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries cope with the impact of the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The V-FLEX mechanism is a short-term instrument which provided for EUR 500 million over two years (2009-2010).

“Developing countries continue to face important difficulties, including funding gaps in their government’s budgets, as a direct consequence of the global financial crisis. This year, this EU mechanism will help 19 ACP countries maintain their level of public spending in priority areas, and therefore mitigate the social impact of the
economic downturn,” said Andris Piebalgs, Commissioner for Development
The Vulnerability FLEX (V-FLEX) mechanism is the European Union’s swift
response to help countries most affected by the economic downturn due to their poor
resilience to external shocks.

In 2010, it will provide, upon their request, support to:
Antigua & Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African
Republic, Grenada, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu and Zimbabwe. The
financing decisions in favour of Burkina Faso (EUR 14 million) and Grenada (EUR
3,5 million) have been adopted today. Financing decisions in favour of other
countries will follow during the course of autumn 2010.

15 countries have previously benefited from EUR 236 million funding under V-FLEX:
Benin, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Comoros, Dominica, Ghana,
Grenada, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Malawi, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone,
Solomon Island, and Zambia.

Background: The V-FLEX instrument works pre-emptively, based on forecasts of fiscal losses and other vulnerability criteria, helping to ease the impact rather than acting after the damage is done. It provides rapid and targeted grants and is acting as a complement to the loan-based assistance of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and regional development banks with whose support it was developed.

V-Flex is demand-driven and targeted at countries with a high degree of economic,
social and political vulnerability, the right policies in place to fight the crisis and
sufficient absorptive capacity as well as a financing gap in their budgets where EU
support can make a difference by closing or significantly reducing this gap.

The EUR 500 million V-FLEX comes in addition to the EUR 1 billion Food Facility
adopted on 30 March 2009 and the allocation of EUR 200 million under the EDF in
2008 to help developing countries cope with higher food prices. At country level, it
complements other financial instruments under the budget of the EU and the
European Development Fund.