Just nine months after a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, killing hundreds of thousands of people, a cholera epidemic broke out. While it became clear shortly after that the epidemic began with U.N. peacekeepers, who had been active in Haiti since 2004 and brought the disease from Nepal, the U.N. only just recently took formal responsibility. With overwhelming rebuilding efforts and damaged infrastructure throughout the country, Haiti was made even more vulnerable, and the disease spread through consumption of tainted water and food.

To attend to the sick population, Haitian infectious disease specialist Dr. Jean-William Pape and his organization, Les Centres GHESKIO, set up and ran temporary treatment sites, but after two years, when the epidemic didn’t seem to be shrinking back, Dr. Pape realized that unsanitary waste collection practices in the treatment centers were contaminating the groundwater, reintroducing the disease into the population.

So to cut off the cycle of re-contamination, Dr. Pape collaborated with MASS Design Group on designs for a new clinic in Port-au-Prince that would not only better serve patients’ needs, but also treat wastewater onsite. By partnering with local craftspeople and builders, the clinic was completed in 2015, and now serves an area of 60,000 Haitians.

Cholera is an entirely treatable, and preventable, disease—usually all is needed for treatment is rehydration, IV fluids and antibiotics—but it can be deadly if not taken care of within hours. Before the 2010 earthquake, cholera hadn't existed in Haiti for more than a century, but ever since, the disease has affected approximately 7% of the entire Haitian population, and killed over 9,200. This year alone, the government estimated in March that on average, cholera was killing 37 people a month.

A documentary about Dr. Pape's collaboration with MASS, Design That Heals, will be shown at the Architecture and Design Film Festival in New York on September 29 and October 1. Watch the trailer below:

Design That Heals Trailer from MASS Design Group on Vimeo.

If you'll be in New York on September 22, you can catch a special sneak peek of Design That Heals at WNYC's The Greene Space. More information here.