WEEKEND POST:"Poor Sanitation in Haiti’s Camps Adds Disease Risk"--Health

As if it isn't enough that the earthquake in Haiti was bad but now the issue of poor sanitation is causing problems. The authorities are struggling to address the worsening problem of human waste. Public health officials warn that waste accumulation is creating conditions for major disease outbreaks, including cholera, which could further stress the ravaged health system. Some say the accumulation of human waste is the most pressing health threat in the city. The problem has become impossible to overlook in many districts of Port-au-Prince, with the stench of decomposing bodies replaced by that of excrement. Children in some camps that are still lacking latrines and portable toilets play in open areas scattered with the waste. The light rains here this week caused some donated latrines in the camps to overflow, illustrating how the problem would grow more acute as the rainy season intensified in the months ahead. People try to help by distributing portable toilets and latrines and use trucks to dispose of the waste but at best it is not working out. For more on this article click here.