United Nations Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon has profoundly apologized for the world body’s role in the Island nation’s cholera outbreak, saying he “deeply regrets” the suffering and loss of…
United Nations Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon has profoundly apologized for the world body’s role in the Island nation’s cholera outbreak, saying he “deeply regrets” the suffering and loss of life.
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Haiti was free of cholera until 2010, when Nepali UN peacekeepers dumped contaminated sewage into a river.
Since then, over 9,000 Haitians have died of the disease and a further 800,000 have been infected.
Peacekeepers from Nepal – where cholera is endemic – were brought to the island nation as part of a force established following the 2004 armed rebellion which ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The force size increased significantly after the country’s 2010 earthquake.
Cholera is a waterborne disease that causes uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea.