Haiti is in the middle of a humanitarian disaster. The assassination of Haiti’s president in 2021 set off a new wave of terror across the Caribbean nation. But conditions in the country have plunged to horrifying new lows, as gangs carried out such extreme violence that the carnage has been compared to civil war.
Cholera is spreading in part because armed groups control poor neighborhoods with ruthless violence and prevent doctors from providing basic care.
Haiti has experience beating back cholera, which spreads through contaminated water and is relatively easy to treat with simple rehydration. But the health authorities cannot deliver the most basic care in poor neighborhoods where gangs have choked off access to the outside world, preventing doctors from entering and leaving the sick to die at home.
In September 2022, armed groups took control of Haiti’s biggest port, blocking the delivery of fuel across the country for nearly two months and setting off a chain of events that created ideal conditions for the spread of the disease.
Photographed on assignment for The New York Times - Haiti, November 2022