Crisis in Haiti: faced with the collapse of health structures, humanitarians crisscross Port-au-Prince to offer care
Cairo: Hani Kamal El-Din
It is a small glimmer of hope for Haitians. Political leaders and representatives of civil society reached an agreement to form a transition council. He will be responsible for restoring order on the island where armed bands reign in terror. Violence increased after the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry in early March. On site, the health situation is deteriorating day by day, as evidenced by the NGOs still there and who are facing major security challenges.
Every day, aboard a mobile clinic, the team from the NGO Alima, made up of a doctor, a nurse, a midwife and a psychologist, travels the streets of Port-au -Prince. At least, when possible. “If there are attacks, unfortunately, we have to suspend our activities, which happens quite often, says Carlotta Pianigiani, emergency coordinator at Alima, who was on site a week ago. But we still manage to offer care fairly regularly.”
The humanitarians remaining on site are replacing the health establishments, because most of them are no longer functioning in the Haitian capital. “Certain structures were directly attacked, for example the general hospital, which is the largest public hospital in Port-au-Prince, observe the humanitarian. These structures were then looted, vandalized and there are also structures which are not functional because there is a lack of everything.”
With the closure of the port and airport at the beginning of March, the entire medicine supply chain is disrupted, with another consequence: “Given the situation, prices have doubled or even tripled, deplores Carlotta Pianigianitherefore for humanitarian organizations and the population, access to medicines is increasingly difficult.” The first cases of cholera were reported among the 360,000 displaced Haitians.
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