Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center
The first permanent cholera treatment center in Haiti
Cholera—a curable, preventable disease that had not existed in Haiti in over a century—emerged following the 2010 earthquake and ran rampant throughout the country. Since the outbreak, cholera patients have been treated in temporary tents, which are difficult to keep sanitary, hot in the Haitian climate, and deficient at ensuring prevention from infection and the human right to dignified health care. In partnership with leading Haitian health care provider Les Centres GHESKIO, MASS designed and built a state-of-the-art permanent cholera treatment center, incorporating an on-site wastewater treatment facility to thwart recontamination of the water table and consequent spread of the disease. The center serves a catchment area of 60,000 Haitians—most of whom reside in a neighboring informal settlement—and treats up to 250,000 gallons of wastewater annually.