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Disease spreads among desperate Haiti quake survivors

31 January 2010 03:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. Haiti’s government and UN agencies Saturday prepared for a mass vaccination drive as potentially deadly diseases such as diarrhoea sprung up at squalid camps housing desperate quake survivors, APA reports citing â€œThe Sydney Morning Heraldâ€.

The vaccination campaign against measles, tetanus and diphtheria will start next week, World Health Organization spokesman Paul Garwood said, amid heightened efforts to prevent a potential public health calamity.

A vast foreign aid effort is struggling to meet survivors’ needs more than two weeks after the disaster, which killed around 170,000 people and left one million homeless and short of food, water and medical attention.

"There are also reports of measles and tetanus, including in resettlement camps, which is worrisome due to the high concentration of people," he said, adding that just 58 percent of Haitian infants were immunized before the quake.

The deputy head of the UN mission in Haiti, Anthony Banbury, said the United Nations did not want huge tent cities later turning into slums where there was poor sanitation, no security and child abuse.