Maryn McKenna

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Spreading cholera, maybe polio: Now will we care about Haiti?

January 27, 2011 By Maryn Leave a Comment

It’s been two weeks since the one-year anniversary of the devastating Haitian earthquake, and the ongoing crisis in that desperately poor island has once again sunk below the news-radar horizon. Which is of course outrageous: Most of the infrastructure has still not been rebuilt, and 800,000 people are still living in tent cities parked precariously in the rubble. The non-profit Oxfam has pinned some of the responsibility on Haiti’s long-standing political chaos: “It doesn’t matter how much money you pour in unless you build up a government that is strong enough to take decisions.” Simultaneously, the United Nation’s special envoy, former Canadian Governor-General Michaelle Jean, has scolded the  industrialized world in an open letter published on the anniversary: “What began as a natural disaster is becoming a disgraceful reflection on the international community.”

Well, maybe this will get their attention.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Science, Science Blogs, Superbug Tagged With: cholera, Haiti, infectious disease, polio, Science Blogs

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