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harrison.leinweber"... Haiti is a long, long way from realizing the bullish goal of 'building back better.'''
"... hope for eradication [of cholera] rests on ... the U.N. to come up with the money."
"... Haiti is a long, long way from realizing the bullish goal of 'building back better.'''
"... hope for eradication [of cholera] rests on ... the U.N. to come up with the money."
I used my already existing knowledge of the UN's structure and purpose to further synthesize the role and ability of the UN Special Envoy to Haiti. I also followed up on what sort and amount of aid US AID has been giving to Haiti. From their website, I discovered that they have donated $4.2 billion to date and have assisted in improving legal protections for vulnerable populations. Finally, I followed up on the fact that at press-time, the UN had not admitted responsibility for the cholera outbreak. I found a New York Time article dated 17 AUG 16 that says they had and are making significant new actions toward improving the situation.
The article discusses how public health crises can suffer from lack of funding due to a number of reasons including organizations not taking responsibility for their actions, inefficient use of resources, and difficulty in fundraising. It also talks about the difficulty of holding international groups accountable for their actions, that warrant an emergency response, in a nation.
UN - potentially caused the cholera outbreak, organized/managing response to the cholera outbreak without acknowledging responsibility for it
Pedro Medrano - UN coordinator for the response in Haiti
USAID - donor of approximately $1.5 billion since earthquake, uses international contractors to rebuild Haiti
Health Ministry - part of the Haitian govt. that manages country health and vaccinations
Ban Ki-moon - won't acknowledge possible UN role in creating cholera outbreak, UN Secretary-General
Haitian Government - currently undergoing disruption due to a change in terms of its Senators and disagreements between parties
This article discussses why Haiti can't "build back better" after the series of disasters that have come its way. The article mentions that Haiti has become reliant upon international contractors as aid when building back because of local and international distrust of the government. This combined with the fact that many public health experts think that the UN is responsible for the cholera outbreak has caused fewer donations, and those donations that are recieved to be used less efficiently.
The author found information on numerous US governmental websites and those websites of NGOs and the UN. The author also appears to have conducted interviews with people knowledgeable about the situation in Haiti.