1/12 Haitian pastor Burel Fontilus feared for his life when he contracted #coronavirus. It wasn’t the COVID-19 respiratory disease that frightened him, he said, rather gun-toting vigilantes in his neighborhood threatening to lynch him. Opens thread on story w @andrepaultre:
2/12 Around the world, sufferers of #coronavirus & health professionals have faced stigma due to fear & ignorance. In #Haiti though, where tensions are already running high, education is poor & many distrust state institutions to keep them safe,that often erupts into violence
3/12 We spoke with several ppl who say they were victims of lynching attempts aiming to eliminate #coronavirus sufferers rather than risk contagion. In one case, locals stoned an orphanage whose director fell ill. Pic of protest outside quarantine facility by @martinezcasares 
4/12 #Haiti's #coronavirus sufferers have good reason to be afraid. During its cholera outbreak, 45 #voodoo priests were killed, many hacked to death, others burned, because they were suspected of bringing the illness upon the nation with their spells. Pic by @jjeantyaugustin
5/12 The stigmatization of #coronavirus in #Haiti & threat of attacks means people who suspect they might have it don't want to come forward. Lack of understanding about how it spreads has also generated opposition to the creation of centers for treating #COVID-19
6/12 The Bernard Mevs hospital had to cancel its planned facility for #COVID-19 sufferers after opposition from the local community. "If you create a corona facility, we will set you on fire" "You will get what you are looking for" read graffiti scrawled on the hospital's walls
8/12 In the end, police had to fire shots in the air to allow the bereaved man to finally bury his wife, 30 feet under ground and under a mound of cement in the cemetery of Fort Liberte to allay contagion fears.
9/12 #COVID-19 survivors are coming forward to tell their stories to the media to show you can avoid infecting those around you & survive. @UNICEFHaiti is also working w the govt on an awareness campaign. Even #voodoo priests are appearing on TV, radio to destigmatize the virus
10/12 But many Haitians have lost faith in all institutions, following one socio-economic-political crisis after another. Some believe the govt and local authorities are inventing #coronavirus cases in order to rake in aid and refuse to take the necessary health precautions
11/12 All this is making it very hard for #Haiti to prevent a major outbreak. While the new #coronavirus arrived there late, it risks spreading widely given dense living conditions with poor sanitation and streams of migrant laborers now coming back from the badly-affected DR
12/12 And if #coronavirus has devastated the health systems of rich, developed nations, one can only imagine the impact on #Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, which only had 100 ventilators nationwide for 11 million inhabitants until last week when it acquired 100 more
