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The recipient of a master of business administration from St. Thomas University, Shelly Grant is a financial representative with Principal Financial Group who is also pursuing a law degree. Outside of her career-related endeavors, Shelly Grant enjoys helping people in need through international discipleship in countries such as Panama and Haiti.
As a member of the United Nations (UN), Haiti is working in compliance with the international organization’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in which its goals include reduced inequalities and access to quality education, among others. The UN agenda includes 17 central goals, one of which is to ensure the availability of clean water for all citizens. In early November, UN Special Envoy for Haiti Josette Sheeran and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed visited the country for three days with a focus on lowering the frequency at which Haiti’s citizens contract cholera, an infectious disease caused primarily by drinking contaminated water.
During the visit, the two UN officials pledged to put an end to cholera and visited families affected by the disease that lacked access to clean water and sanitation services. In a High-Level Cholera Committee meeting, Mohammed expressed the immediate need for increased funding toward emergency response teams capable of treating individuals with cholera, and also stated the importance of providing comprehensive support to the country to address the root causes of the disease. At the onset of the health epidemic in 2010, there was an average of 18,000 new cases per week, and while that number has since fallen to 250 per week, significant work and resources will still be required to eliminate the disease.
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