- Title: Venezuelan doctors treat Hurricane Matthew victims in remote corner of Haiti
- Date: 21st October 2016
- Summary: GRAND'ANSE DEPARTMENT, HAITI (OCTOBER 20, 2016) (REUTERS) VIEW THROUGH CAR WINDOW TRAVELLING DOWN ROUGH, DIRT ROAD PEOPLE HACKING AT A FALLEN TREE BLOCKING THE ROAD A VENEZUELAN AID VEHICLE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE USING MACHETE TO CUT THROUGH FALLEN TREE BLOCKING THE ROAD VENEZUELAN AID WORKERS TRAVELLING DOWN ROAD VENEZUELAN AID CAMP SET UP NEAR A SMALL VILLAGE AND FIELDS DAMAGED BY HURRICANE MATTHEW VENEZUELAN FLAG AT CAMP A WOMAN HOLDING A BABY AS SHE WAITS TO SEE VENEZUELAN HEALTH WORKERS CLOSE-UP OF A BABY BEING TREATED BY A HEALTH WORKER WOMAN WITH HER BABY GETTING TREATMENT FROM A VENEZUELAN DOCTOR (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) AREA RESIDENT, LINDA DEMOSTENE, SAYING: "My baby cries a lot at night. He has the flu. He coughs a lot. That's what is bothering him." A DOCTOR TREATING A BABY IN A WOMAN'S ARMS VENEZUELAN HEALTH WORKERS AT THE CAMP VENEZUELAN HEALTH WORKERS WITH SUPPLIES, INCLUDING DRINKING WATER CLOSE-UP OF A BABY'S HEAD A WOMAN AND A GIRL WAITING AT THE CAMP A BABY NURSING MEDICINE ON A TABLE AT THE CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN HEALTH WORKER, OSCAR PEREZ, SAYING: "These families here are vulnerable, they're suffering the effects of the hurricane. These families have to be watched over and have to be given the proper treatment and advice seeing as they are vulnerable to whatever natural disaster. At the same time, they're a little lost." STETHOSCOPE ON A TABLE VENEZUELAN HEALTH WORKER HOLDING A BABY EXTERIOR OF TENT SET UP TO TREAT PATIENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) AREA RESIDENT, JERTHA DOL, SAYING: "It is very difficult here when we are about to give birth to a baby. It's important to get to a hospital, but there's only a hospital in the city of Jeremie. We suffer a great deal giving birth. The men would sometimes take us to the hospital." CLOSE-UP OF A PATIENTS BARE FEET CLOSE-UP OF A BABY GETTING TREATMENT VARIOUS OF WOMEN WITH THEIR BABIES
- Embargoed: 5th November 2016 03:41
- Keywords: Haiti cholera hurricane Hurricane Matthew doctors medics aid
- Location: GRAND’ANSE DEPARTMENT, HAITI
- City: GRAND’ANSE DEPARTMENT, HAITI
- Country: Haiti
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
- Reuters ID: LVA00154Y5PVN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Health workers from Venezuela travelled to a remote area of Haiti that was hard-hit by Hurricane Matthew on Thursday (October 20) as the country continues to struggle after being devastated by the storm earlier this month.
The Category 4 hurricane struck Haiti on October 4, leaving more than 1 million people in need of urgent assistance and creating the worst humanitarian emergency in the impoverished Caribbean country since a devastating earthquake in 2010.
As the Venezuelan team travelled south from the city of Jeremie through the southwestern Grand'Anse department, they hit their fair share of blocked roads.
Many roadways remain impassable due to collapsed buildings, fallen trees and other debris.
The team, some 25 Venezuelan health workers from Venezuela's Simon Bolivar Humanitarian Aid Force, finally stopped at a small village of about 3,000 people just north of the Pic Macaya National Park.
The team set up a tent where they quickly started seeing patients, mostly children suffering from fevers and diarrhoea.
Diarrhoea is especially alarming as cholera grips the country as people desperately need clean drinking water.
The water-borne disease is endemic in Haiti and the storm damaged most cholera treatment centres.
But there was never a treatment centre in this remote village which only gets visited by a medical clinic once a month. The nearest hospital is two to three hours away if residents are able to find a car or motorcycle to get them there.
As soon as the Venezuelan medics set up their tent, mothers began lining up with their sick babies and children.
"My baby cries a lot at night. He has the flu. He coughs a lot. That's what is bothering him," Linda Demostene said of her sick baby.
The Venezuelan health team said the people here were in great need of aid, water and medical treatment.
"These families here are vulnerable, they're suffering the effects of the hurricane. These families have to be watched over and have to be given the proper treatment and advice seeing as they are vulnerable to whatever natural disaster. At the same time, they're a little lost," said Oscar Perez, part of the Venezuelan medical team.
Many towns in Haiti have been virtually wiped out in the worst-hit areas.
According to latest government figures, 546 people were killed and 128 people went missing as a result of the disaster.
The most urgent need is for clean water and hygiene kits to stop the spread of cholera.
Haiti's cholera epidemic began in 2010, when Nepalese peacekeepers poured infected sewage in a river shortly after a devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake.
The disease has now flared in some hurricane-affected areas, mostly in the southwest of the country, as floods contaminated drinking water after the Category 4 storm. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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