The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #11, ”Reports from the ground: Haiti”

A month ago, Haiti’s number of COVID-19 infections barely registered on the global radar screen. But a leading medical group warns that that has now changed alarmingly. At the end of April, Haiti had reported only 81 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths. Those COVID-19 figures have since spiked to more than 3,000 cases and 50 deaths. 

The international medical nonprofit Doctors Without Borders says that due to a lack of testing, the count is likely much higher. Haiti’s growing crisis is reflected across so-called Latin America and the Caribbean – which scientists say is the global hotspot for COVID-19’s second wave.

Today’s guest Elikya Ngoma was born on August 11, 1991 to a family of Africans from Haiti. There, Elikya witnessed many of the contradictions that Africans face around the world, especially those who come from Haiti. Elikya Ngoma is the Haiti Editor of The Burning Spear newspaper.