A team of Bangladeshi cholera experts left for Haiti on Saturday to help the quake-ravaged nation fight an epidemic of the water-borne disease, officials said.
The experts are from the renowned International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, which is credited with developing a simple but effective treatment for diarrhoeal diseases worldwide.
The eight-member team consists of clinicians, microbiologists, a medical officer and two Bangladeshi nurses, the centre said.
"Our priority is to train local people so that Haiti's health authorities are equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to manage this, and any future outbreaks," said team leader, Dr R.N. Mazumder.
According to Haiti's health ministry, more than 12,300 people have now been struck by cholera and 796 people died in just a few weeks, swamping tiny, overwhelmed and ill-prepared hospitals and clinics.
Haitians still have not had time to rebuild since the January quake that killed 250,000 people and left another 1.3 million homeless.
Four decades ago, cholera was one of the biggest killers in Bangladesh, claiming tens of thousands of lives every year. But te disease is no longer considered deadly in the impoverished country.
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