Final Report of the Independent Panel of Experts on the Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

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UN in talks to set up independent panel of experts to probe origin of cholera in Haiti

Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations

15 December 2010 ? The United Nations is exploring the establishment of an international scientific panel to look into the source of the cholera epidemic in Haiti.

?We are calling for an international panel and we are in discussions with WHO [the UN World Health Organization] to find the best experts to be in a panel, completely independent? [and] have the best investigation on the source of the outbreak,? the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Alain Le Roy, told a press conference at UN Headquarters.

The Department later added that the Secretary-General is in discussions with interested stakeholders, including WHO, and that the panel will be completely independent and will have full access to all UN premises and personnel. The specific terms of reference will be established in the coming days and the SG may have more to say on this on Friday.

Haiti?s cholera epidemic, which broke out in October, has already killed more than 2,000 people, according to figures from Haiti?s Ministry of Health, with over 44,000 others hospitalized, even as the country struggles to recover from the January quake, which killed 200,000 people and displaced some 1.3 million others ? most of whom are still living in crowded and unsanitary tent camps.

There have been widespread media reports claiming that UN peacekeepers from Nepal, serving with the UN stabilization mission in Haiti, are the likely source of the epidemic, with infected water having spread from their base into a nearby tributary of the Artibonite River.

Mr. Le Roy said experts who have studied the epidemic have so far come up with different theories on the origin of the infection. ?There is no consensus among scientists on this issue,? he noted.

The peacekeeping chief added that none of the Nepalese peacekeepers had tested positive for cholera or shown any symptoms of the disease, and that repeated analyses of water from their camp have not detected the strain of the disease blamed for the epidemic.

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http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.as...4&Cr=haiti&Cr1=

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Re: UN in talks to set up independent panel of experts to probe origin of cholera in Haiti

Haiti: Ban appoints four top medical experts to probe source of cholera epidemic

Most people use the River Artibonite, thought to be the source of the cholera epidemic in Haiti

6 January 2011 ? Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today named four top medical experts to an independent panel to investigate the cause of a cholera epidemic in Haiti amid media reports that Nepalese peacekeepers from the United Nations mission there may have been the source.

The panel will be chaired by Alejandro Cravioto of Mexico, from the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh. The other three members are Claudio Lanata of the Instituto de Investigacion Nutritional in Peru, Daniele Lantagne of Harvard University in the United States, and Balakrish Nair of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in India.

?The members of the panel have been selected based on their global stature, expertise and extensive experience working with cholera in all its aspects,? a statement issued by Mr. Ban?s spokesperson said, stressing that the panel will operate completely independently of the UN and have access to all UN records, reports and facilities as it probes an epidemic that, as of last month, has killed at least 2,800 people and infected 130,000 others.

Widespread media reports have said Nepalese troops from the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) were the likely source of the outbreak, with infected water spreading from their base into a nearby tributary of the Artibonite River, used for drinking and washing by many rural Haitians.

In announcing his intention to appoint the panel last month, Mr. Ban noted that there were several theories, and not all reports reached the same conclusion, with MINUSTAH and the Government conducting several tests, all of them negative. But he stressed that ?there remain fair questions and legitimate concerns that demand the best answer that science can provide.?

Today?s statement said Mr. Ban had been deeply concerned by the outbreak since the first cases were detected in October. ?Determining the source of the cholera outbreak is important for both the United Nations and the people of Haiti,? it added.

The epidemic has struck while Haiti is still reeling from a devastating earthquake that killed over 200,000 people and displaced some 1.3 million others, most of them still living in crowded and unsanitary tent camps as the disaster?s first anniversary approaches on 12 January.

MINUSTAH, currently with nearly 12,000 military and police personnel, has been on the ground in Haiti since mid-2004 after then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide went into exile amid violent unrest.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.as...6&Cr=haiti&Cr1=

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Final Report of the Independent Panel of Experts on the

Final Report of the Independent Panel of Experts on the
Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/haiti/UN-cholera-report-final.pdf