Three top officials of Haiti released a statement on October 2, Thursday, discouraging their citizens from departing their country for West Africa in order to volunteer for organizations and agencies fighting for Ebola virus.
Dr. Florence D. Guillaume (Minister of Health), Major Lener Renauld (Minister of Defense), and Reginald Delva (Minister of Interior) were forced sign a joint statement opposing sending of Haitian citizens to Ebola-stricken countries after rumors of organizations including the United Nations recruiting them as volunteers spread in social media and networking sites. They have also called on the public to dial 177 if they experienced or have knowledge of such cases.
They have also banned any organization such as UNMEER (UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response) from continuing such practice, citing that Haiti does not need to experience another health crisis as they did in not-so-distant past.
This year, Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, fought against chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease, that affected thousands of its citizens. From 2010 to 2013, meanwhile, the country experienced what is considered the worst case of cholera epidemic in history after it killed more than 8,300 people in Haiti as of December 5, 2013. The outbreak followed only about a year after the 7.0 magnitude Haiti earthquake that claimed between 100,000 and 316,000 lives (differences in death toll attributed to the supposed inflation by the government).
According to the health minister, the statement was made in order to gain back the confidence of the public and reduce the trauma they have experienced all these years, especially beginning from the earthquake.
Nevertheless, in an article published in Haiti Libre on October 3, Friday, it mentioned that although the United Nations had appealed to different nations in fighting against the Ebola outbreak, it seems far-fetched for these types of organizations to recruit health volunteers in the country since they lack qualified people to do so.