Haitian health officials say more than one million children under five die each year in Haiti from diarrheal diseases.

Haitian children learn in school how to stay healthy in a world where a careless sip of contaminated water can be fatal.

Sanjay Wijesekera is the director of water, sanitation and hygiene for UNICEF. “The answer isn't a single silver bullet. There are a range of measures that work // around infrastructure, around getting people to change certain behavior or adopt certain behaviors, and around clinics and case containment and the vaccine is also a potential new element,” he said.

Dr. Jon Andrus is the deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). He says the traditional strategies of disease prevention and control such as hand washing, latrine use and other hygienic measures are all critical,but not enough to save millions of lives.

“If we continue with the current prevention and control strategies, we will still have 200 cases of cholera a day. We won’t eliminate it as we are trying to do with this initiative,” Andrus said.

He says the initiative's goal is to help Haiti and the Dominican Republic create a cholera-free Hispaniola. “It won’t happen today. Could it happen in 8 to 10 years? I think it can. I think we are all very, very optimistic that if the right thing is done ensuring safe water and sanitation as a basic human right to citizens of Haiti, it will get done,” Andrus said.