Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic is strengthening preventive and protection measures for the population, especially in border areas, in the face of the cholera outbreak in Haiti, where 17 confirmed deaths from this disease have been recorded since the second week of September.
Given the situation in the neighboring country, the Dominican Government sent some 86 people to the border area, who carry out continuous water quality tests at different points to detect possible contamination, in addition to distributing information materials in Creole and Spanish, and hygiene kits to promote hand washing, the Minister of Health, Víctor Atallah, reported this Tuesday.
In addition, Atallah indicated that the supply of medicines was arranged preventively so that the country is prepared for possible suspicious cases, and teams from the Dr. Defilló National Reference Laboratory in Public Health were mobilized, with the aim of guaranteeing timely detection and providing a quick response to any eventuality.
Likewise, personnel from the Vice Ministry of Risk Management and Environmental Health collect samples in various parts of the country, not only at the border, but also in other tributaries, with the purpose of analyzing the quality of the water and detecting the presence of pathogenic organisms that can cause acute diarrheal diseases, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Minister of Health pointed out that there are no cases of cholera in the Dominican Republic, and the health authorities ensure that constant surveillance and permanent health control are maintained at the border points.
The institution recommended “avoiding the consumption of water that is not properly processed, whether for drinking or preparing food.”
If you do not have drinking water, you should boil or add five drops of chlorine per gallon before consuming it or using it for cooking, the ministry stressed.
Likewise, it was urged to maintain adequate hand hygiene.This article was originally published in The Day
