After a lull in media coverage, Haiti’s cholera epidemic resurfaced in international news. A new scientific publication has been released, citing that the most likely source of cholera in Haiti was MINUSTAH, the UN peace-keeping mission in Haiti. This goes against previous findings from the same council two years ago, and sparks further debate on culpability of the epidemic, and the effects of international institutions in Haiti.
As the epidemic continues, Focus on Haiti introduces a new series of posts on cholera. The series will be fundamentally interdisciplinary. Cholera’s effects, after all, are multifaceted. Even individual effects are both profoundly physical and emotional. Cholera’s genesis in Haiti begs analysis from both the social sciences and the natural sciences. The epidemic raises questions of public health, and international legal responsibility. And throughout these interdisciplinary conversations lies critical questions of foreign interventions in Haiti.
This series seeks to follow the web of cholera, to find what is uncovered by following the threads in different directions. The perspectives shared here will hopefully spark debate, and raise concerns so that media lulls do not dictate our awareness of these realities.
Our first post investigates the medical and scientific research on cholera. Read on.
-Scott Freeman
Focus On Haiti Initiative 