But the overall fatality rate has dropped from a peak of 9 per cent to around 2 per cent, indicating that while the infection is still spreading, treatment facilities and intensive public information campaigns on how to protect from the disease are working. She warned, however, that these efforts require stability in the country, adding: "If aid supplies and aid workers cannot move around freely, or if sick people cannot reach help in time, the fatality rate will quickly rise again."

On the earthquake, which killed 220,000 people and made 1.5 million others homeless, Ms. Amos said much had been achieved in the past year but 800,000 people are still in camps.

"The relief effort has helped millions of people, but it has not – and will not – provide the long-term solutions which are desperately needed. Accelerating recovery efforts must be the absolute priority for 2011," she cautioned.

"It is important to still be realistic about how long it is going to take to get everybody to where they want and need to be. We cannot expect that Haiti, the poorest and least developed country in the Western Hemisphere before the earthquake, will be rebuilt in one year or even two. Humanitarian agencies are prepared to stand beside the poorest and most vulnerable Haitian people for as long as it takes to recover."