Epidemic Warning and Rapid Response

Praecipio International, a non-profit organization that tracks disease outbreaks globally, is planning to re-deploy to Haiti to assist in curbing unfolding infectious disease crises as the rainy season begins.   The founders of Praecipio International have extensive public health experience and led the same analytical team from Veratect Corporation that first detected and warned of the potential crisis evolving in Mexico in spring of 2009 that was later confirmed by the World Health Organization to be the H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Our main focus in Haiti is to spearhead the creation of an early warning disease surveillance network to complement existing formal systems.

The onset of continuous rainfall in Haiti poses an immediate health threat to individuals residing in IDP camps.

Floodwaters trigger the overflow of pit latrines bringing raw sewage flow into the camps contaminating local water sources.  Contact with raw sewage greatly increases the chance of exposure to waterborne pathogens that cause diarrheal disease.  Prior to the January 12th earthquake, diarrheal disease was already a leading cause of illness and death for children in Haiti.  Now, both children and adults living in temporary shelters with inadequate hygiene are facing a substantial increased risk for diarrheal disease due to the environmental conditions, which will only worsen as the rainy season unfolds in Haiti.

The medical infrastructure in Haiti consists mainly of volunteer and non-profit groups who are themselves transitional – some groups are pulling out of Haiti and some are rotating entire teams of medical personnel every week. This ad hoc infrastructure is both limited and easily overwhelmed.  Because of these conditions, rapid identification of diarrheal disease hot spots when they emerge is critical, so that aid can be moved quickly to prevent further spread of disease and exhaustion of medical resources.   Praecipio International is currently actively engaged in addressing these needs.  Initial action includes stockpiling pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for emergency distribution, deploying personnel to evaluate at-risk populations, and expanding the current information network between ground responders to improve overall disease reporting and response efforts.

Dr. Jim Wilson, Executive Director of Praecipio International has been in Haiti in recent weeks working with the Jenkins-Penn Haiti Relief Organization to directly evaluate residents of IDP camps in the Port-au-Prince area and provide medical assistance to those in need.  During the past two months, Praecipio has been providing continual situational awareness for infectious disease activity among earthquake survivors and anticipatory assessments of expected disease threats.

Praecipio International has maintained a WATCH status for Haiti beginning within weeks of the earthquake and believe this status will elevate to a WARNING in less than 30 days with the coming rains. Action is immediately required to mitigate unnecessary loss of life among earthquake survivor populations.

Praecipio International has issued an Emergency Appeal for the following operational actions over the next 3 months, to begin immediately:

1. Continue building a disease reporting network to support early warning of diarrheal disease hot spots in partnership with the Haiti Ministry of Health;

2. Continue to stockpile medications and medical supplies to support a possible large-scale diarrheal disease response; and

3. Deploy Intercept Teams throughout Port-au-Prince to provide ground assessment support and medical countermeasures to responders dealing with surges in diarrheal disease.

This Emergency Appeal requires US $125,000 for the Praecipio International team to return to Haiti for 3 months to continue expanding the informal disease surveillance system and disease prevention efforts underway as the rainy season begins.

See, DEVELOPMENT: Haiti Must Destroy Before Rebuilding, Inter Press Service, March 22, 2010, by Gary Pierre-Pierre.