Pioneering Cholera Scientist Gives Thumbs Down to Oral Vaccines Promoted for Haiti | Un pionnier scientifique du choléra dit que les vaccins oraux promus pour Haïti sont inutiles

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)

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Ali Farka Toure Performs Amandrai, a Love Song, Live at Segou Festival

By Ali Farka Toure | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Ali Farka Toure was a fantastic singer-composer-musician and also an exceptionally well-grounded individual who, after touring the U.S. and Europe to great acclaim, returned to his village in Timbuktu, Mali, 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.

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Total Withdrawal of Brazilian UN Occupation Troops Most Wanted from Rousseff

By Staff, AlterPresse | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Brazilian President Dilma Roussef visited Haiti for a few hours on Feb 1, 2012. She failed to deliver what she could easily have given and what Haitians wanted most: the withdrawal of the Brazilian MINUSTAH occupation troops. (English | French)

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Warning: Haiti ‘Cholera Vaccination’ Campaign Will Involve AIDS Researchers | Avertissement: Des chercheurs sur le SIDA participeront à la ‘vaccination contre le choléra’ en Haiti

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | Staff (jep kft gp), AlterPresse. According to Haitian Director General of the Department of Public Health and Population (MSPP), Gabriel Timothee, initial tests of a cholera vaccine will start in Haiti in February 2012 in disadvantaged areas of Port-au-Prince and the Plateau Central. Studies of the vaccination will be conducted in collaboration with Zanmi Lasante (Partners in Health, PIH) and a center called Haitian Studies of Kaposi Syndrome and Opportunistic Infections (Gheskio). (English | French)

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The Giving Moringa Tree | Árvore milagrosa como um supermercado ao ar livre

By Kristin Palitza, IPS | Informações de Envolverde | Holistic Health | Haiti Chery. Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree that produces leaves full of nutrients and medicines, and pods full of protein. The seeds can purify water and furnish cooking oil, and the flowers are decorative and medicinal. Moringa already grows in most of the South where it is often called Malunggai. In Haiti, it is called Benzolivier.

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Oral Cholera Vaccines Cannot Control Haiti Cholera: Rebuttal to an Article in Scientific American

By Rashid Haider, Haiti Chery | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. From the moment cholera appeared in Haiti, a group of supposed experts started to promote oral cholera vaccines for the country. Dr. Rashid Haider provides a devastating rebuttal of the most recent of such articles, which extensively quotes Paul Farmer and appeared in the January 12, 2012 issue of Scientific American.

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Haiti-Bound Cholera Vaccine ‘Absolutely Useless’ According to Bangladesh Field Trial | Le vaccin pour Haïti contre le choléra est ‘absolument inutile,’ d’après un essai au Bangladesh

By Dr. Rashid Haider, The Independent | Ahmed Sadiq, News from Bangladesh | Translated by Dady Chery for Haiti Chery. Incidents of scientific fraud have reached a record high, and one area that requires careful scrutiny is vaccine trials in far-away developing countries. A detailed report of Bangladesh’s 2011 field trials, for the Shanchol vaccine being pushed on Haiti, thoroughly disproves claims made about this vaccine. (English | French)

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Cholera Vaccines Unnecessary, Ineffective, Expensive, and Dangerous

By Rashid Haider, Haiti Chery | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Cholera vaccines are being pushed on Haiti, especially Shanchol, a vaccine that protects only 45 percent of those vaccinated during the first year and is unsuitable for controlling epidemic or endemic cholera. Shanchol is expensive. In addition, preparations of it for use in developing countries contain the mercury-based preservative thiomersal.

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Cuba’s Health Care Miracle in Haiti: Interview with Dr. Jorge Balseiro Estevez | Le Miracle Cubain des soins et de la santé en Haïti: Interview avec le Dr Jorge Estevez Balseiro

By Roger Annis and Jorge Balseiro Estevez, Haiti Liberté | CHAN | Haiti Chery translation. “The Henry Reeve Cuban Internationalist Medical Brigade has treated more than 18 million cases in Haiti. We have performed 304,577 surgeries and vaccinated 1,501,076 people. We estimate the number of lives we have saved is 284,239.”- Dr. Balseiro Estevez. Gracias a Cuba! (English | French)

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Without Consent: How Drugs Companies Exploit Indian ‘Guinea Pigs’

By Andrew Buncombe and Nina Lakhani, The Independent | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Figures released by Indian authorities suggest that during the last 3 years around 1,730 people have died after many unknowingly participated in trials of drugs, including vaccines. In Haiti, we could do without the additional deaths from this new colonialism.

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The Uses of Haiti’s Poor Children: Guinea Pigs for Cholera Vaccines | Utilisations des enfants pauvres d’Haïti comme animaux-sujets pour les experiences avec des vaccins contre le choléra

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haiti’s Ministry of Health finally gave in and officially announced the beginning of a vaccination campaign against cholera, after one year of pressure from the UN’s Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The proposed vaccine, called Shanchol, is wrought with scandal, and preparations for use in developing countries contain the dangerous mercury-based preservative thiomersal. (English | French)

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On Ecology, Economy, and Human Health

By Sandra Steingraber, ORION. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at age forty-four. I have uncles with colon cancer, prostate cancer, stromal cancer. My aunt died of the same kind of bladder cancer—transitional cell carcinoma—that I had. But here’s the punch line to my family story: I am adopted.

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