Haiti: Escalating violence, worsening health needs in Port-au-Prince
Intensifying clashes stretch MSF's emergency services to the limit
Since Feb. 24, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Haiti have witnessed a surge in violence, resulting in an increasing number of wounded people and medical needs. Clashes between armed groups and police are intensifying, leaving civilians trapped under constant threat of crossfire. Today, 85 per cent of Port-au-Prince is under the control of armed groups, according to the United Nations and movement through many neighbourhoods puts lives at risk.
From Feb. 24 to March 2, MSF’s team at the Turgeau emergency centre treated 314 patients, including 90 direct victims of violence – double the usual number. Some patients requiring surgery were transferred to the MSF hospital in Tabarre, where the trauma capacity was expanded from 50 to 75 beds. For the past 10 days, the hospital has been running at near full capacity, with medical teams working under extreme pressure to admit new patients.
“The scale of this crisis far exceeds what MSF can respond to alone, especially with the rainy season approaching [that can threaten disease outbreaks].”
Christophe Garnier, MSF country director in Haiti
Since Feb. 14, attacks by armed groups in several neighbourhoods of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area have forced over 24,000 people to flee and this number continues to rise amid the ongoing violence. As of March 5, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 180,000 internally displaced people are living in over 140 sites. These people in vulnerable situations, some of whom have been displaced multiple times, are seeking refuge in makeshift camps where access to clean water is either extremely limited or non-existent.
For over a month, the suspension of United States funding has deprived many humanitarian organizations of their resources, forcing groups like Solidarités International to suspend the distribution of drinking water in displacement camps. According to Solidarités International, in these camps, displaced people are trying to survive on just one litre of water per day. This is far below the international emergency standard, which recommends 15 litres per person per day. In response, MSF has set up a water distribution system via tanker trucks to provide for more than 13,000 people living in four camps.
“We have identified more than 100 displacement camps in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, but the scale of this crisis far exceeds what MSF can respond to alone, especially with the rainy season approaching [that can threaten disease outbreaks],” says Christophe Garnier, MSF country director in Haiti.
With the imminent arrival of the first rains, sanitation systems are flooding, hygiene conditions are deteriorating and the risk of deadly disease outbreaks, including cholera, is rising.
“The humanitarian response plan in Haiti is severely underfunded, even as the conflict escalates and thousands of people are repeatedly forced to flee, seeking refuge in makeshift camps with limited access to basic services such as water and sanitation. Without urgent action, the situation will turn into a humanitarian catastrophe, as relentless violence continues to deepen the suffering of an already exhausted community,” says Garnier.
