ELCA shifts $500,000 for cholera fight in Haiti
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America committed $500,000 in mid-November for the prevention and treatment of cholera in Haiti, as well as continued response to communities displaced by the January earthquake. The gift is in addition to the $25,000 the church designated earlier in the month for similar purposes there, said ELCA News Service.
The funds will be transferred from the denomination's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund to the Lutheran World Federation to support its continuing work in Haiti, said Megan Bradfield, associate director of ELCA International Development and Disaster Response.
According to the Pan American Health Organization, more than 18,000 people have been hospitalized in Haiti since the cholera outbreak and more than 1,100 people have died. Cholera was expected to spread throughout Haiti in coming weeks. The outbreak is directly related to poor living conditions for more than 1 million people left homeless since the January earthquake. More than 230,000 people died in the quake.
