November 17, 2010 – Port-au-Prince, Haiti….Libna Stevens/IAD
As the death toll rises beyond 1,000 people since the cholera outbreak hit Haiti three weeks ago, Seventh-day Adventists fear deaths among their fellow church members may rise. So far church leaders know of seven Seventh-day Adventists who have died from the illness on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
“This is terrible for us to face now,” said Pastor Theart Mathias St Pierre, president of the church in Haiti. “We now mourn for those who have died because of this disease, and are calling out to our members and people in the community to educate them to take health precautions.” The seven Adventist victims were from Gros Morne, Terre Sonneall, Nicole at La Branle and communities in northwest Haiti, according to St Pierre.
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacterium vibrio cholerae. Symptoms include profuse diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to rapid dehydration. Cholera is transmitted primarily through consuming contaminated drinking water or food.
Pastor St Pierre said that after the first cholera cases were reported last month, church leaders and pastors embarked on a preventative campaign throughout their congregations, distributing fliers on the dangers of the cholera outbreak and how to take sanitary precautions to avoid infection.
Soon after, the church teamed up with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Haiti, to provide water purification service to dense communities on the outskirts of northwest Port-au-Prince, church leaders said.
“We have embarked on a 30-day ADRA-Haiti project to send 10 mobile water purification units to areas ravaged by cholera,” said Fritz Bissereth, ADRA Haiti director. Purification units are being transported daily by church member volunteers on motorcycles. The machines provide about 240 liters of pure water per hour.
ADRA Haiti is regularly testing the water at Adventist University in Carrefour and distributing aquatabs, according to Bissereth. Some 500 displaced families are still settled on the university campus as a result of the devastating earthquake in January.
Administrators at the Haiti Adventist Hospital in Carrefour reported that no cases of cholera were seen in their institution.
Meanwhile, church leaders continue to spread the word about the cholera outbreak as people are still taking shelter on church grounds.
“We solicit your prayers for our people in Haiti, that God can see us through this outbreak,” Pastor St Pierre said.
