Kristalina Georgieva, Bulgarian Commissioner in charge of emergency humanitarian assistance, announced Monday that the European Commission (EC) was ready to release 10 million euros extra to help the victims of the cholera epidemic rampant in Haiti "This money will be added to the 12 million already released by the European Commission, will be available as soon as the NGO partners on the ground will be ready to absorb this amount"

The violence that followed the disputed results of the first round of presidential elections have hampered the functioning of the aid on the ground, said Ms. Georgieva "To defeat cholera, aid workers and victims need peace [...] if the violence continues, the cholera epidemic could spiral out of control", she warned.

Since the outbreak of cholera has appeared in the country (October 19, 2010), 97.595 people were infected and treated, 46.749 people were hospitalized and 2.193 people died. According to the most recent assessment of MSPP, dated December 6, 2010. Significant figures, but largely underestimated by the government according to health experts from the UN, who believe that these figures could be double those published.

HL/ HaitiLibre