Cholera death toll in Haiti rises to 6,435; U.N. official says hardships remain in camps

Haitian health authorities on Friday said the death toll from cholera has risen to 6,435 since October and that "the number of people infected with cholera almost reached half a million, although the ministry repeated the epidemic was decreasing," Xinhua reports (9/30). U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos wrapped up a three-day visit to Haiti on Friday, saying the "number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) still in camps in Haiti after their homes were destroyed by last year's catastrophic earthquake has declined from 1.5 million to 600,000, but hardship in the settlements has not eased," the U.N. News Centre reports. "Limited funding has led to a decline in the number of humanitarian agencies working in key sectors, such as water and sanitation and camp management. Hundreds of latrines are now unusable and overflow, especially during the current rainy season, posing significant health risks, even as efforts to keep the cholera epidemic at bay continue," the news service writes (9/30).