Spain

Haiti has long had a sanitation problem, being one of a very small number of countries where sanitation worsened over the last twenty five years.  Port au Prince, its largest city, has no central sewage system and is unlikely to ever have one.  There are other models for sewage management but implementing them without good governance, the rule of law, and a well-informed public is, as with anything else, challenging.  However, there are champions for improving sanitation both within and outside the Haitian government. The full NPR article by Rebecca Hersher follows. 

The transition from emergency relief to reconstruction is happening, albeit slowly.  It won’t be easy and there will be setbacks, particularly given that the rainy season is upon us along with the risks it brings of flooding, mudslides, infectious diseases, and infrastructure damage.  Engineers have completed emergency mitigation measures at six of the most vulnerable settlements to protect the most vulnerable, but much remains to be done.

Disagreements among parliamentarians and political parties over who will serve in the new government have prevented Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis from presenting a new Cabinet and policy priorities (one of which is food security) on Tuesday as scheduled.  As politicians bicker, the people struggle.  The Miami Herald notes that school starts on September 1st and the fees will be out of reach for many.  According to the USAID Famine Early Warning System (FEWS-NET),  food security conditions are likely to deteroriate beginning in October due to the high prices of staple food crops, hurricanes, civil unrest, and high transportation costs.  Having been four months without a functional government, it is long past time to make a deal and get to work.