News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A report from an independent panel of the United Nations (UN) on the source of Haiti's cholera outbreak yesterday stopped short of blaming Nepalese soldiers at a UN peacekeeping base, emphasizing that a combination of factors led to the outbreak that has so far sickened almost 300,000 people.

(CIDRAP News) – A report by an epidemiologist sent by France to assist Haiti with the cholera response said United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces from Nepal are the most likely source of the outbreak, though others deny the claims or say the findings are inconclusive.

(CIDRAP News) –Cholera deaths are climbing in southwestern Haiti, an area that had been previously spared by the outbreak, as health officials face prevention challenges from local beliefs that the disease is caused by supernatural forces.

(CIDRAP News) – To speed emergency responses to avian influenza and other animal and plant diseases, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) inaugurated a new crisis management center (CMC) at its Rome headquarters today.

(CIDRAP News) – The United Nations today signaled a new level of concern about avian influenza and the risk of a flu pandemic by naming a special coordinator of all UN responses to the situation.

Dr. David Nabarro, a British public health expert with the World Health Organization (WHO), was named to the new job of "UN system coordinator for avian and human influenza."