When her 11-year-old daughter, Noel-Dina, was struck by fever and unbearable abdominal pain, Oriata didn’t hesitate.

She immediately took her child to the nearest hospital. “She couldn’t walk anymore because she was so weak. I had to carry her on my back. I was terribly worried and thought I was going to lose her,” said Oriata, her eyes filled with tears.

That day, Noel-Dina was diagnosed with cholera.

Like many children in their rural neighborhood of Grand-Goâve west of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, she lived without access to basic sanitation facilities. “We had no choice but to use the outdoors as our toilet. That’s how the disease entered our lives,” Oriata explained.

Cholera spread

Cholera has recently been spreading in Haiti. So far this year, more than 3,100 suspected cholera cases have been reported nationwide.

A young child is treated for cholera at a hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Between 21^–25 September alone, 40 suspected cases and three deaths were reported in Pétion-Ville, a busy suburb with many schools – a worrying development with the new academic year set to begin.

Young adults, who typically move around a lot, account for most of the cases, fuelling concerns of the disease spreading.

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, was working “together with authorities and our partners to ensure there is rigorous case monitoring and that health workers are rapidly mobilised to reduce the risk of the further spread of cholera.”

Community action

Eleven-year-old Noel-Dina survived thanks to timely medical care.

Her painful experience was a turning point as thanks to awareness campaigns in their area, her mother, Oriata, learned that the lack of latrines was one of the main reasons for the spread of cholera and other waterborne diseases.

UNOCHA/Christian Cricboom

A health worker carries out sanitation procedures as people enter a cholera facility in Haiti.

Without waiting for outside help, she began digging a pit in her yard.

“I didn’t have many resources, but I knew I had to do something, not just for my daughter, but for all the children in the neighborhood,” she explained.

Oriata didn’t stop there. After seeing her daughter gradually regain strength, she became involved in awareness-raising activities in her community, going from house to house, to encourage other families to take action.

Her commitment sparked a wave of solidarity.

“When someone started digging a pit and couldn’t continue, we would get together to help them and we did this house by house until it became a movement,” she recalled.

This mutual support transformed their neighbourhood. Latrines became the norm and hygiene practices such as systematic hand washing were adopted by everyone.

“Today, when you walk through here, you no longer smell any bad odours because no one relieves themselves outside anymore,” she said.

Full of dreams

Sitting on her bed, her maths notebooks open in front of her, Noel-Dina smiles shyly. She dreams of becoming a nurse. Every day, she helps her mother at home and washes her hands thoroughly after using the toilet, actions that have become automatic.

“Before, I had to go outside. Now we have a latrine at home, and I’m glad my mum built it. She did it for me and for everyone,” she said.

Other communities are also taking action with support from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, and the local authorities.

Nearly 3,000 households now have access to safe and hygienic latrinesand 30 hygiene clubs, 22 in schools and 8 in health centres, have been created to encourage good practices among children, teachers, and medical staff.

“Before, there were bacteria everywhere, and children often got sick. Now, even when a child has a fever, it’s no longer because of dirt. They are healthier and happier,” said Oriata. 

“I just watched how it was a central driver for humanitarian agencies from all over – not just the UN agencies – and it was the only organisation that could do that,” said Mr. Stroumboulopoulos, an actor, media interviewer and producer, who also now serves as an Ambassador for the Word Food Programme (WFP), which runs the lifesaving service.

For two decades, UNHAS has been providing the vital air links which allow various UN agencies to deliver humanitarian workers and assistance to hard-to-reach regions.

From the COVID pandemic – when commercial flights shut down – to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the service has keep going under some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable.

But with less funding available, UNHAS flights and the vital resources they transport, are in danger of stalling in mid-air.

“What we are trying to do here is to get political support from Member States to let them know that we have a promise of leaving no one behind, and it’s very important that we keep funding for UNHAS.” said Hedley Tah, head of external relations for the service at a pop-up UNHAS exhibit during high-level week in New York.

A most efficient system

Identifying and correcting inefficiencies is one of the aims of the UN80 Initiative, the UN’s systemwide reform plan rolled out by Secretary-General António Guterres earlier this year.

UNHAS is an example of a system that is already lean and efficient, according to Mr. Tah, given that it is a centralised service is used by over 600 UN organisations, relieving them of having the set up or pay for their own.

“We are able to do that for the entire humanitarian community,” he said. “We are able to allow other organisations to focus more on their programmatic mandates while we run the supply chain for them, making sure that gains are made in terms of efficiencies.”

He noted that 70 per cent of costs associated with humanitarian aid come from supply chains — which involves flights and distribution.

“A small percentage of cost savings with a supply chain can result into hundreds of millions of dollars in savings,” and this is where UNHAS comes into play.

UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) pop-up exhibit at the UN Headquarters during the General Assembly’s high-level week.

‘Doing more with less’

Compared to last year, UNHAS now has 50 per cent less funding to do its work.

“That affects our response to the humanitarian community,” said Mr. Tah. “But nonetheless, we are now doing more with less.”

To continue operating effectively despite funding challenges, the service has reduced the number of aircraft and renegotiated its contracts. While flights are grounded to some destinations, they still reach 21 countries.

According to last year’s WFP UNHAS Annual Review, the aviation service strategy through 2028 includes improvements in fleet readiness, emergency deployment mechanisms and digital booking systems.

“The kind of expertise required to be able to pull off what UNHAS does is unparalleled,” said Mr. Stromboulopoulos, who flew with the service in Syria last year.

“I can’t imagine the level of heartache and pain and loss of life, loss and dignity, loss and hope that comes if you don’t have something like UNHAS.”