UN to donate $181 million to help Haiti treat cholera

By Senabri Silvestre

SANTO DOMINGO, Dom. Rep.

The United Nations will donate $181 million to help Haiti deal with a cholera epidemic that has claimed 9,100 lives since 2010, authorities said Thursday.

It will also provide the same amount to help those affected and their families, UN special adviser David Navarro told AFP.

The announcement comes just days after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accepted responsibility for the cholera outbreak in the Caribbean country and said he would prepare a "material" package of assistance to assist with the emergency.

The funds will be distributed to Haiti over three years through a program that will be discussed with the government and announced by Ban later this year, Navarro said.

Haitian President Jocelerme Privert last week urged the UN to quickly approve a support measure to help his nation deal with the cholera epidemic, warning that it has become a “significant humanitarian deterioration” that needs concrete and effective action.

The cholera outbreak is blamed on Nepali’s UN soldiers working in Haiti since the devastating earthquake of 2010. Since then, approximately 780,000 victims have been affected by the disease.

Victims have demanded the UN compensate them for the disease that is typically contracted through contaminated food or water.

A U.S. federal appeals court upheld the UN’s immunity from a damage claim filed in 2013 on behalf of victims.