Government Creates a Cordon Sanitaire to Prevent Spread of Cholera

Government Creates a Cordon Sanitaire  to Prevent Spread of Cholera
Santo Domingo, 10/27/2010

Dominican President Leonel Fernández led a meeting this past Monday where suggestions were being reviewed in collaboration with the Haitian government about the creation of a cordon sanitaire (quarantine line) to prevent the spread of cholera from neighboring Haiti where more than 250 people have died and more than 3,000 have become ill up until now.

“We are asking all of you to help us spread these messages that will help keep the population generally informed,” said Núñez.

Minister of Public Health, Bautista Rojas Gómez and Rafael Núñez, Director of the President’s Office of Information, Press and Publicity, made the announcement in a press conference in the Orlando Martínez Hall of the National Palace after a meeting with the President wherein they evaluated measures being adopted to avoid the entry of the illness into the Dominican Republic, according to the President’s Office of Information, Press and Publicity.

In their effort to prevent even one case of cholera penetrating the boarder, Rojas Gómez said they will take the necessary previsions and resources from the national budget, one percent of which is earmarked for the relief of emergencies and disasters. “From this fund, we will use the necessary investment to reach the goal we have proposed for not one single case of cholera to affect the Dominican Republic,” pronounced Mr. Rojas Gómez.

He announced the reactivation of the National Cholera Commission, created during the government of Joaquín Balaguer in 1991, adding that this evening authorities will announce what medication will be used to treat the illness.

The Minister of Public Health and Social Assistance affirmed that the health of the Dominican people was the highest priority and that it is benefiting from orientation from President Fernandez and the support of other organisms like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Dominican Medical Association. He said, “The authorities are doing all that must be done to assure this problem does not affect the national territory.”

An increase in border controls is also in effect. At this point, there is no information that any Dominican resident in Haiti has contracted cholera.
At the same time, he announced the design of a health promotion and prevention strategy whose goal is to assure that the illness does not affect us.
Secretary of State and Press Director for the Presidency, Rafael Núñez, discussed an information and communication strategy “because it is crucial to tell the population a great deal about this situation on the national level and at the border level.” With this in mind, he announced that this Tuesday, 27 cabinet reporters from the political-social area will be brought together to discuss this strategy.

He said the press will be given informational flyers in both Spanish and Haitian Creole that can be disseminated nationally by radio and TV but that fundamentally the border area was most vulnerable. “We are asking all of you to help us spread these messages that will help keep the population generally informed,” said Núñez.

 The Minister of Public Health added that from the first moment the Dominican Republic has been dealing with two aspects of the epidemic: 1. To avoid any Dominican from falling ill with cholera. 2. Seek a way for the DR to collaborate with Haiti in the face of the tragedy affecting it. 
Rojas Gómez explained that the ministry initiated a human resources training course for  health workers in public hospitals and health centers and that they have also been supplied with the necessary medication to confront any contingency. 

He said that in record time, by this Sunday, they already had a laboratory set up with the capacity to make diagnoses in the Doctor Defilló Laboratory and that in the coming days they will have the same systems in place in Barahona, Santiago, San Juan de la Maguana, San Francisco de Macorís, La Vega, San Pedro de Macorís and other provinces.

He said the provinces along the border have created rapid response committees in a joint effort with the WHO and has also set up a health table with all the necessary work instruments to stop the propagation of the disease in the DR.

Rojas Gómez said the ministry has distributed large quantities of the brochures in Spanish and Creole to educate and orient people along the border areas in the hope that this material will reach Haitian territory.

He stated that through the National Institute of Potable Water and Sanitation (INAPA in Spanish), the Dominican authorities have supplied three tons of chlorine to Haiti to strengthen the water supply there and that in the coming hours they will be supplying an additional six tons.

He said there are controls along the entry points between the two countries and that no cooked food from Haiti will be permitted to enter into the DR to be sold at the bi-national markets. The sale of homemade drinks from Haiti will also be prohibited at the market.

He spoke about the training given to municipal workers from every town where there are markets and how inspectors will work directly with suppliers. He said hygiene workers must also be well trained in the handling of waste products as well as everything else.

Likewise, Dominican authorities will supply large quantities of water for the cleansing of hands and to carry out other hygienic measures.

Those present at the meeting led by President Fernández included the Minister of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Joaquín Virgilio Pérez Feliz, from the Immigration Office, Vice Admiral Sigfrido Paredes Pérez; the Director of the National Institute of Potable Water and Sanitation (INAPA) Mariano Germán; Director of the President’s Office of Information, Press and Publicity, Rafael Núñez and the Director of the Pan American Health Office, Lilian Reneau.