Med­ical and human­i­tar­ian aid work­ers in Haiti are wor­ried that the earth­quake could cause an addi­tional health prob­lem in the coun­try. Access to clean water in Haiti is even worse than before the earth­quake. Peo­ple who may resort to dirty water cold help the spread of intesti­nal diseases.

From this Los Ange­les Times story that we found at the Ten­nessean, writer Shari Roan talks to health pro­fes­sional about what they fear in Haiti.

This time, emer­gency med­ical respon­ders will have to pro­vide much more than the usual food, water, latrines and ban­dages to stop the spread of dis­ease, said Dr. Christina Catlett, asso­ciate direc­tor for health pre­pared­ness at the Johns Hop­kins Office of Crit­i­cal Event Pre­pared­ness and Response in Bal­ti­more. They’ll also have to cre­ate a pub­lic health sys­tem on the fly.

Haitians are in such des­per­ate need of clean water that there was a stam­pede Thurs­day when a rumor spread that water was avail­able, Catlett said.

“My heart absolutely broke when I heard about (the quake),” Catlett said. “Haiti had sig­nif­i­cant health prob­lems prior to the earth­quake: HIV, tuber­cu­lo­sis, severe mal­nu­tri­tion, intesti­nal par­a­sites, ane­mia and a host of other prob­lems.”
…

But in Haiti, exist­ing human­i­tar­ian sup­port sys­tems, such as the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion and non-governmental orga­ni­za­tions, have been crip­pled by the disaster.

Accord­ing to news reports, only one hos­pi­tal in the city of Port-au-Prince is functioning.

Clean water is the most crit­i­cal need. Dis­eases such as cholera, dengue fever and dysen­tery may emerge if peo­ple begin to drink con­t­a­m­i­nated water.

But food, too, is more cru­cial than after most dis­as­ters. Many Haitians are under­weight and won’t be able to sur­vive as long with­out food as a healthy Amer­i­can, Dorian said. Because of exist­ing mal­nu­tri­tion, emer­gency health respon­ders may need to set up ther­a­peu­tic feed­ing sta­tions to care for peo­ple who are in dan­ger of starving.

Peo­ple could even begin to eat con­t­a­m­i­nated food, mak­ing food-borne ill­ness likely.

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