Chikungunya has reached Haiti!

Mosquito borne disease are very common in some parts of the world, including Haiti. Malaria and Dengue fever are commonly known borne disease but Chikungunya? that’s something else….

Chikungunya is transmitting to humans from virus carrying mosquitos and symptoms specific to Chikungunya are fever, rash and joint pains. If you treat fever in the early stage, it should not cause much of problem, however joint pain can last for a while depending your age, original health condition. It has been spreading rapidly in the Caribbean region, and with the summer travel season is around the corner, there is high concern for this disease spreading across North/South America.

As soon as we heard the news about our neighbor country, Dominican Republic suffering from this disease, our mobiliser team has started to visit communities to inform about this disease and what people can do to prevent this.

As seen in Cholera epidemic in Haiti, dieses can spread fast in a country where there are not enough treatment centers (hospitals) and hygiene condition is not ideal. In addition, we have entered the rainy season and due to the lack of drainage system, water is everywhere. We have already seen some actions by NGOs and health care organizations to fight this disease. We hope that this does not turn into another cholera epidemic..

I have been living in Haiti for over a year and never been sick and I hope mosquito finally does not get me! For the next couple months, I do not think I can let insect repellant and mosquito coil out of my sight.

【JEN is now accepting donations. Your help would be very much appreciated.
DONATE here】