Aid officials and medical agencies say the billions pledged after the January 2010 earthquake are still yet to come, which has led to urgent appeals by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for donors to deliver on pledges.

Haiti cholera outbreak

Former US President Bill Clinton, who is also a special UN envoy in Haiti to help push reconstruction, has also been appealing for donors to deliver more quickly on promises.

But with a high prevalence of corruption in Haiti's construction sector and presidential elections due soon in the destroyed country, most donors are said to have been unwilling to provide funds to an interim authority.

However, the donor world is also being encouraged to come good by other world figures.

Pope Benedict XVI made a direct call at his last weekly mass in Rome on Sunday for help for predominantly Catholic Haiti, with special prayers.

The Pope also called on the international community to "be generous" with its help for Haiti.

Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, is now preventing Haitians from crossing the border, expressing concern about cholera entering its territory from its neighbouring territory.

The cholera outbreak is the worst health challenge facing Haiti since the earthquake in January. By November 16, its toll was nearing 1,000 deaths.

In the capital, Port au Prince, hospitals are overwhelmed. Over 30 deaths had already been already registered at crowded city hospitals by November 16 and more new cases are being registered each day.

Over 12,000 persons have been hospitalized with cholera and the UN's World Health organization (WHO) says up to 200,000 can eventually be affected.

Now, with hospitals overflowing, medical officials are publicly expressing concern that patients may end up having to be cared for in unsafe conditions, including open streets and other free public spaces.

Health experts say they hope the outbreak will slow down soon, but they expect the disease will eventually join malaria and tuberculosis in becoming endemic in Haiti.

The WHO says cholera is widespread and on the rise, with three to five million cases worldwide. More than 100,000 people die from the disease every year, with the majority of cases in Sub-Saharan Africa.