Cholera in Haiti appears to be contained: Foreign Minister

The cholera epidemic in Haiti appears to have been contained, Haiti`s Foreign Minister Marie Michele Rey said.

Montreux: The cholera epidemic
in Haiti appears to have been contained, Haiti`s Foreign
Minister Marie Michele Rey said on Sunday during a summit of
French-language nations in Switzerland.

The minister said that the outbreak of the deadly disease
"is limited to a well defined perimeter" in the northern
region of Artibonite and part of the central plateau.

For the time being "those who are on the spot appear to
be able to contain the situation," she said during a press
conference in the Swiss town of Montreux.

"I am confident because the information that I have gives
me reason to be confident," she said, while acknowledging that
she was already at the summit when news of the cholera
epidemic emerged.

Information from her government was that the cases were
generally confined to Artibonite, the minister said.

The United Nations has confirmed five cases of cholera in
Haiti`s capital Port-au-Prince after a sudden epidemic of
cholera in northern and central Haiti emerged over the past
week, killing 220 people.

All those cases in the quake-torn capital involved people
who had travelled south from the affected areas.

The United Nations said that while the cases were
worrying, it did not consider that they marked the spread of
cholera across the country.

The 38 heads of state and government at the Francophonie
summit in Switzerland have been examining post quake
reconstruction for Haiti.

Canada`s Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday vowed to
keep up aid for the Caribbean nation.

"Your friends from the Francophonie will never let you
down," he said.

PTI

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