UN says health care situation in Haiti is getting worse

UNITED NATIONS (CMC) – The United Nations Friday said that across Haiti, access to healthcare is shrinking and that the situation is particularly acute in the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area, where 42 per cent of the healthcare facilities remain closed.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, said that severe funding shortfalls are also undermining the response.

“A third of the way into the year, the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Haiti is less than seven per cent funded, having just over US$61 million in the bank, compared to the more than US$908 million that are needed,” Dujarric told the daily news briefing.

He said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is continuing to work with UN agencies and “our humanitarian partners to meet the most urgent needs of the people in Haiti, wherever and whenever possible” and that “our humanitarian colleagues on the ground are continuing to provide assistance in areas where armed violence continues to hamper access to healthcare.

“In the Centre Department earlier this week, we and our partners delivered emergency kits – enough to support 30,000 patients for three months. These kits, which include surgical instruments and other essential supplies, were dispatched to hospitals in Hinche, the Centre Department’s capital, to the commune of Boucan Carré, and the village of Cange.”

Dujarric said these facilities are coping with acute shortages due to the influx of displaced people.

“These health facilities are also understaffed and overstretched, following the closure of a major referral hospital in the department. As we told you last week, the University Hospital of Mirebalais was forced to suspend operations following a wave of insecurity in the area.

“Although we and our partners continue to support hospitals that are still functioning, access constraints reported along main transport routes are complicating efforts to deliver vital assistance,” Dujarric added.