Officials in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are preparing for a long campaign against cholera, the water-borne disease that has sickened tens of thousands of people in the two neighboring Caribbean countries.

Dominican Deputy Minister of Public Health Rafael Schiffino says the two governments are working on a project to wipe out the disease on Hispaniola by 2022. The plan will include substantial spending on clean water and sanitation.

A bilateral meeting on the plan started Monday in the Dominican Republic.

Cholera emerged suddenly in Haiti in October 2010. Experts say it was likely introduced by U.N. peacekeepers. Since then, the disease has killed 7,000 people and sickened about 300,000 in Haiti. There have been 22,000 cases and 350 deaths in the Dominican Republic.