HTH -- Haiti Earthquake

November 1, 2010. Haitians protest outside UN base

SOURCE: Altegrity Risk International

Hundreds of protesters marched on a rural UN military base on October 29th to demand that UN peacekeepers from Nepal, who are blamed for the recent cholera outbreak, leave the country. Demonstrators waved tree branches and carried anti-UN banners when marching from Mirebalais to the gates of the base near the Artibonite River.

At least 330 people died from the outbreak and some 4,700 have been hospitalized. There has been no scientific conclusion on the origin of the epidemic, although there have been suspicions that the outbreak originated from Nepalese peacekeepers who recently arrived in the country. Cholera is endemic in Nepal. Experts say the disease was likely imported, as there had not been a diagnosed case of cholera in several decades in Haiti.