September 19, 2017
Voices From The Field: Françoise in Les Cayes, Haiti
On January 12th 2010, Haiti was struck by a violent earthquake that left some 200,000 people dead, 300,000 injured and 2.3 million homeless.
7 years on, Doctors of the World – present in Haiti since 1989 – remains mobilized.
Among other activities, we’re fighting alongside the Haitian health services to prevent cholera epidemics from debilitating Haitian communities. After assisting those displaced by the earthquake, and providing life-saving surgery and health treatment, including 580,000 consultations and 800 surgical operations in the year following the earthquake, we turned to Haiti’s reconstruction. Our teams on the ground focused on consolidating the health system, providing training to health personnel, and supplying essential drugs and medical equipment.
200,000
Killed
300,000
Injured
2.3 million
Left homeless
We were also present in October 2016 when Hurricane Matthew – a Category 4 storm – hit the country killing an estimated 1,332 people and displacing over 140,000. We immediately deployed an emergency team, developing cholera prevention programs and deploying mobile health clinics to provide primary health care in the most affected areas.
Our network currently covers 9 of the country’s regions, including some particularly hard-to-reach areas where our mobile clinics provide rapid response to reported cholera cases to prevent the disease from spreading.
Despite the destruction, the ability of Haitians to rise up and organize is immensely impressive. The members of our team who were directly affected by the hurricane were the first to mobilize a response. I am extremely proud of their courage and dedication.
In addition to our emergency response work our teams also work on reducing infant mortality, sexual and reproductive health, and supporting primary healthcare services alongside the Haitian government.
In partnership with two civil society organisations, POZ (Health, Life and HIV) and SOFA (Haitian Women’s Solidarity), Doctors of the World is working in Port-au-Prince to improve women’s access to sexual and reproductive healthcare. We also support women focused organizations in their efforts to establish a healthcare access observatory and an advocacy platform for sexual and reproductive health rights in the region.