United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon made a “necessary pilgrimage” to Haiti to announce efforts to alleviate the cholera epidemic that has killed thousands of civilians, and which critics have blamed on UN peacekeepers.

“I know that the epidemic has caused much anger and fear.  I know that the disease continues to affect an unacceptable number of people,” Ban said.  “My wife and I have come here to grieve with you.  As a father and grandfather, and as a mother and grandmother, we feel tremendous anguish at the pain you have had to endure.”

Ban’s efforts so far haven’t been working out too well.  In December 2012, he launched a US$2.2 Billion plan to eliminate cholera from Haiti within 10 years.  But the donations have been slow in coming.  And the UN says it has not yet been able to raise the $400 Million needed to fund the program in its first two years.

Cholera swept through Haiti in 2010, where it had not been seen for more than a century.  Several investigations have scientifically linked it to peacekeepers from Nepal, who were in Haiti to secure the streets after the catastrophic, magnitude 7.0 earthquake that killed as many as 160,000 people and left the capital Port-au-Prince in ruins.  Infected raw sewage from the Nepalese camp drain directly into a creek used for drinking water.

Disaster followed, and 8,500 people died.  The UN officially denies it was the cause of the Cholera Outbreak.