By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | News Junkie Post. The great majority of Haitians categorically reject the UN force, and Haiti’s Senate passed a resolution in September 2011 that called for withdrawal of the troops by October 2012. Nevertheless, the groundwork was carefully laid for renewal of the UN mandate. With a $676.70 million budget at stake, the disregard for democracy is total. (English | Portuguese)
By Wedlyne Jacques, AlterPresse | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. No water from the taps of Cap Haitien residents since months. And they must walk several kilometers to reach a source of water. Some people report that they wake up as early as 2:00 to 5:00 am to queue for half a day to buy water that is not even fit for drinking. (English | French)
Press Release from Cuban Ministry of Public Health, Granma, Cuba Debate. With epidemiological vigilance, public education, and appropriate treatment, Cuban public health workers completely ended in two months what might have become a major cholera epidemic and limited a cholera outbreak to three deaths and 417 cases. (English|Spanish)
By Kate Beioley, Argentina Independent | Staff, Los Andes. Two men, rural producer Francisco Parra and chemical-application person Edgardo Pancello, were sentenced in the Cordoba Criminal Court of Argentina to three-year prison terms for use of the agrochemicals endosulphin and glyphosate in the barrio of Ituzaingó Anexo. So far, 200 cases of cancer have been discovered in the barrio, 100 of these fatal. (English | Spanish)
PRESS RELEASE, UN via RadioTV Caraibes | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The heads of the UN peacekeeping missions forces in the Congo (MONUSCO), Haiti (MINUSTAH) and South Sudan (MISNUSS) said today to keep in mind that these operations have broad mandates: from classical peacekeeping to conflict mitigation, and even the fight against cholera. (English | French)
By Robert Engelman, Yale Environment 360. Demographers predict that the world population will climb to 10 billion later this century. Is this projected population reasonable, given the warming of the planet and the increasing pressures on supplies of food, water and life-sustaining ecosystems including pollinators?
Piarroux: Haiti Epidemic Could Be Gone in Months, Vaccination Target St Marc Has No Cholera
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery (English) | Renaud Piarroux and Claire Hedon, Priorite Sante (French). Contrary to the daily predictions of mayhem from the mainstream press about Haiti’s cholera epidemic, Dr. Renaud Piarroux, who has access to up-to-date medical information and laboratory results about the epidemic, says it is waning and now exists only as a series of clusters in the North of the country. Based on his extensive experience in controlling epidemics of tropical diseases, he adds that cholera could be completely eradicated from Haiti in a few months, but not by the oral vaccination campaign promoted by Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population. (English | French)
City Dwellers Flock to Raising Chickens | How to Raise Urban Chickens
By Ben Block, Worldwatch Institute | Andrew Kalinchuk, Green Home Authority | You Tube | Haiti Chery. Grassroots campaigns, often inspired by the expanding movement to buy locally produced food, are leading United States municipalities to allow limited numbers of hens within city limits. You get fresh eggs pretty much on demand and know the chicks are raised in a supportive and loving environment.
Abuse of Antibiotics in Agroindustry Generates Deadly Drug-Resistant Bacteria
By Julio Godoy, IPS | You Tube | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Five prematurely born children died in the northern German city of Bremen from infections acquired in a hospital. The infections involved highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria detected in poultry sold in markets, and the hospitals are believed to have acquired these bacteria from patients who had been in contact with the contaminated poultry. (English | Spanish)
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The epidemiological information about Haiti’s cholera outbreak is brought together with up-to-date molecular biology evidence, in an article by Dr. Renaud Piarroux and his colleagues, to make an ironclad scientific case about a United Nations (UN) MINUSTAH Nepalese base being the source of Haiti’s cholera contamination. The epidemic is attributed directly to the inadequate medical surveillance of 1,280 UN personnel who were taken to Nepal to train during an epidemic and the unsanitary practices at the base to which they came, upriver from the towns of St. Marc and Mirebalais, Haiti.
By Mergenat Exalus, AlterPresse | Translation and editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The northern Haitian city of Gonaives has been without water since a sabotage of three water pumping stations last December. The forced dependence of the Haitian population on bottled water, uninspected by local health authorities, poses a grave danger. (English | French)
By Aline Sainsoivil, Le Matin | Translation and editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) presented a plan to strengthen its “Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI)” at a meeting on Monday, March 12, with UN organizations UNICEF, PAHO, and WHO. Might this strengthened EPI involve a plan to administer oral cholera vaccines? (English | French)
Pioneering Cholera Scientist Gives Thumbs Down to Oral Vaccines Promoted for Haiti
By Rashid Haider, Haiti Chery. Prof. Richard A. Finkelstein, an eminent microbiologist and Nobel-Prize nominee for his pioneering studies on cholera, advises that for cholera “the best solution resides in providing safe drinking water and sewage disposal.” In Dec 2010, alarmed by the oral vaccination plans for Haiti, he wrote to the health officials, including Jon Andrus, the Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that the proposed use of Dukoral was “a useless and expensive waste of resources.” This vaccine was not adopted, but a campaign immediately started for the use of Shanchol, another questionable oral cholera vaccine. (English | French)
By Ali Farka Toure, You Tube | Discogs | Introduction by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Ali Farka Toure was a fantastic singer-composer-musician from the Timbuktu region of Mali. He was also an exceptionally well-grounded individual who, after touring the U.S. and Europe to great acclaim, returned to his village to work as a fruit and rice farmer. Later he served as the Mayor of the Niafunke region where his projects included malaria eradication and tree planting.