JDP Foundation

Haiti’s Healthcare Services Reestablished but Precarious During Hurricane Season

Martha Kerr

July 8, 2010 — The earthquake that hit Haiti in January 2010 destroyed more than 60% of the country’s healthcare infrastructure, including nearly all of Port-au-Prince’s hospitals, and wiped out 10% of all medical personnel, who were either killed or left the country in the wake of the disaster. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed or injured, and approximately 1 million were left homeless.

“Today, medical provisions for Haitians have improved, and are certainly more accessible than before the earthquake, allowing poor people to receive proper health care,” said Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Head of Mission Stefano Zaninni in a statement.

In response to the disaster, international aid has poured in, surpassing 90 million euros. More than half the money (approximately 53 million euros) has already been spent.

MSF held a press conference today to provide an update on the state of the country’s healthcare system and services 6 months after the earthquake hit.

MSF Field Director Hans dan Dillen reported that recovery efforts, implemented in stages, have been largely successful. Life-saving surgeries were being performed within hours of when the earthquake hit. Since then, 174,000 people have been treated, more than 11,000 surgical procedures have been performed, and more than 81,000 Haitians have received support to cope with psychological trauma.

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A teen who was close to graduating from high school lost her father and both of her legs in the Haiti quake. For her and thousands like her, an already difficult life has become much bleaker.

Valerie Darnaudet, left, a therapist with Handicap International, encourages Daniella Bien Alme, 26, who lost her leg in the quake, to try out a pair of crutches in a Port-au-Prince hospital. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

By Mitchell Landsberg

February 17, 2010

Reporting from Gonaives, Haiti – She is 19 years old, with an angelic face and big, heavy-lidded eyes. Abright young woman close to graduating from high school, a rare accomplishment in Haiti.

As her sister runs a hand through her hair, Sounlove Zamour tells how the Jan. 12 earthquake split her family’s house in two, how it swallowed up her father, how it robbed her of her legs — both gone now, below the knee.

She manages a feeble smile.

Zamour belongs to a heartbreaking new class in Haiti: earthquake amputees. No one knows how many there are, although the number is clearly in the thousands.

And no one knows what sort of future there will be for this new generation of the disabled in Haiti, where the loss of a limb in the past could condemn a person to a life on the margins, in a society where even the able-bodied struggle to get by.

“Before the earthquake, well, the disabled person was not really seen, like in a lot of countries,” said Sylvia Somella, a spokeswoman for Handicap International, a nongovernmental organization headquartered in France. “There were no special facilities for them.”

In Port-au-Prince, Hatians pray during a national day of mourning on Friday, the one month anniversary of the earthquake which has devistated their country.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — One month after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti, the enormity of the country’s damage is clear. The numbers tell stories of death and destruction, as well as a global outpouring of aid.

CNN has compiled the latest, most reliable figures available as the devastation continues to unfold:

THE TOLL

212,000: Latest estimate of the death toll, from the Civil Protection Agency of the Government of Haiti
More than 300,000: Number of injured, according to the United Nations

THE EFFECT

9 million: Population of Haiti according to the United Nations. The World Health Organizations estimates a slightly higher population of 9.7 million
3 million: Estimated number of people affected by the quake
467,701: People who have left Port-au-Prince using free transportation provided by the government. The number who left by private means is undetermined.

THE CHILDREN

300,000: Children younger than 2 who need nutritional support
625: Haitian orphans who have been evacuated
25,000 – 4,600: Number of schools in Haiti affected by the earthquake

Come out and open your Heart 4 Haiti. This is an open bar Fundraising networking event which will work towards providing sustainable medical care for amputees and crush injury victims in Haiti.

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