Haiti Cholera Hill Briefing, April 18 2012

Video of Congressional Briefing on Cholera in Haiti, co-sponsored by the O'Neill Institute and CEPR

In October of 2010, less than ten months after being hit by a devastating earthquake, Haiti experienced a cholera epidemic that quickly spread throughout the small nation. The waterborne disease has now killed at least 7,050 Haitians and sickened over 531,000 others. Meanwhile, nearly half a million earthquake victims remain without adequate housing, and Haitians continue to face one of the most challenging clean water and sanitation situations in the world. As the rainy season sets in, the country is experiencing a notable increase in the number of deaths attributed to cholera, according to the UN.

This congressional briefing, co-sponsored by the Georgetown Law Center's O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and CEPR, examines U.S. and international efforts to address what has become the world's worst active cholera epidemic. Panelists discuss what urgent measures are needed to contain the spread of the disease, as well as longer-term proposals for preventing cholera from becoming endemic to Haiti. Finally, panelists consider the role of international legal mechanisms for protecting health and human rights violations in Haiti's greater post-earthquake context.

The video includes introductory remarks by U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and concluding remarks by U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA).


Panelists included:

Mark Weisbrot
Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research

Dr. Luiz Augusto Galvão
Manager, Sustainable Development & Environmental Health Area
Pan-American Health Organization/World Health Organization

Donna Barry
Director of Policy and Advocacy, Partners In Health

Brian Concannon, Jr.
Director, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

Mario López-Garelli
Senior Human Rights Specialist, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Moderator: J.P. Shuster
O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

• Category

  News & Politics