Launch of 2018 Operation “Coup de Poing” against cholera
In 2017, the operation “Coup de Poing” or shock campaign, allowed for a serious advance in the fight against cholera in the department of the West in Haiti. On Monday 7 August 2018, the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) and the National Directorate of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DINEPA) launched the 2018 Operation “Coup de Poing”.
Port-au-Prince, 22 August 2018- With the launch of the operation “Coup de Poing”, the main partners aimed at strengthening the fight against cholera in the department of the West. Considerable progress in the fight had been recorded, as numbers show. At the 30th week of 2018, only 31 suspected cases were recorded for the whole country. In general, 818,874 suspected cases of cholera were reported from 2010 to 28 July 2018, with 13,681 cases notified in 2017. From January to July 2018, only 2,874 cases were reported across the country. “Eliminating or eradicating cholera is not the business of the MSPP only. It calls upon everyone to contribute to the fight,” said Maliou Etienne, the director of the Western Health Directorate (DSO), while officially launching the operation.
Operations “Coup de Poing” are efficient
The efficiency of operations “Coup de Poing” is well established. From to 16 May, 129 suspected cholera cases were notified in Titanyen, located just a few kilometers north of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. The disease already claimed the lives of an 8-year-old girl and a 45-year-old man. 18 suspected cases were also recorded during the same period in Orangers, causing the death of a 15-year-old teenager and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl from the same family.
As soon as the first alert was received, members of the investigation committee were deployed to the area to see the extent of the epidemic and put in place the first measures. The “cordon sanitaire” (or health protection area) were expanded, with full coverage on the most affected areas. Partners started coordinating to ensure safe and drinking water was available. The surroundings of Titanyen are mostly rural and have about 10,000 inhabitants and most people do not of leak-free latrines and practice open defecation while only few observe hand washing at key moments. The situation is even worse in Orangers where access to drinking water is more precarious.
Awareness raising and prevention is key
The contribution from the Spanish Committee, focused on the purchase and distribution of basic WASH supplies related to the cholera programme, which gave substantial support to the overall UNICEF cholera response strategy in Haiti, especially during the rapid response interventions in which an important amount of supplies such as chlorine, aquatabs, soap, oral rehydration salt, buckets, etc. is required, for its use during the implementation of the “cordon sanitaire”. Such supplies are used during the preventive intervention of awareness raising at the community level, in schools, markets and other public places.
Awareness activities were successfully conducted. Volunteers from different partners distributed leaflets and advice cards, crisscrossed markets and public places. Merchants and buyers have been targeted first because they are most in contact with food products that may be contaminated on the surface. Schools have also been subjected to massive awareness raising and prevention campaigns.
“The operation “Coup de Poing” has the strength to rally all the partners around a common goal: eliminating cholera. UNICEF is delighted with the involvement of everyone, especially local and regional authorities in this major operation, “said Maria Luisa Fornara, UNICEF Representative in Haiti.
In 2018, the cholera response made considerable progress and the disease has reached its lowest level since the epidemics started in 2010. A total of 3,786 suspected cases have been declared by the Ministry of Health in 2018 compared to 10,868 for the same period in 2017. This amounts to a 72% decrease of the number of suspected cases in 2017–2018. Haiti is now on its ‘last mile race’ for cholera elimination, on a good track to reach an incidence level below 0.01%, which was initially targeted for 2022.
Jean Panel Fanfan, UNICEF Haiti