New York Times reports on Cuba's role in Haiti's fight against cholera

Nov 9 2011

One year after cholera was detected in Haiti, the New York Times reports on how, "[a]s the epidemic continues, the Cuban medical mission that played an important role in detecting it presses on in Haiti, winning accolades from donors and diplomats for staying on the front lines and undertaking a broader effort to remake this country's shattered health care system." The newspaper recaps a brief history of Cuban medical missions in Haiti since 1998 and writes, "There is no doubt that the Cuban mission has been vital here."

"Paul Farmer, the United Nations deputy special envoy to Haiti and a founder of Partners in Health, which has worked extensively on health care in Haiti, said the Cubans sounded an important early alarm about the outbreak, helping to mobilize health officials and lessen the death toll," the newspaper writes, adding, "Even more, while the death rate peaked last December and the world's attention has largely moved on, 'Half of the NGOs are already gone, and the Cubans are still there,' he said, using the abbreviation for nongovernment organizations" (Archibold, 11/7). In related news, the Guardian provides a slideshow of Haiti's cholera epidemic in pictures (Jacome/Carlson, 11/7).