The Haiti Task Force

The Task Force for Haiti was created in 2003 under the name "Pro Haiti Task Force". The purpose of this Task Force was to provide a timely and coordinated response in Technical Cooperation in Health for Haiti.

The Country Support Unit (CSU) will be in charge of the technical coordination of this Task Force, and will act as its secretariat.

Strategies adopted

The Task Force adopted the following strategies:

• prioritize and orient Haiti Technical Cooperation according to the current health situation;

• mobilize human resources from PAHO/Headquarters, Pan-American Centers and any other region, according to Haiti Technical Cooperation priorities;

• jointly with the PAHO/WHO Country Representative in Haiti, explore possibilities for missions to be carried out in the country;

• make suggestions on strategic alliances with external partners for Haiti and follow up;

• carry out "ad hoc" studies for decision making;.

• the creation of an Intranet site under CSU in order to have updated information and current events on Haiti.

Participants

At the time of its creation, in addition to CSU and Country Administrative Support Unit (AM/CAS), the following priority areas from headquarters conformed this Task Force:  Maternal, Child and Adolescents Health, HIV/AIDS, Basic Sanitation, Immunizations and Procurement (PROMESS). It was also agreed that the Country Office in Haiti would establish a counterpart group which would be led by the Country Representative.

With the years, this Task Force has been including more participants; area managers and unit chiefs, as well as staff working directly on some related issues regarding Haiti, who have been invited to participate in the meetings.

Task Force Focal Points

All Area Managers and Unit Chiefs are expected to be the Focal Points of this Task Force, and in this capacity they will be convened to all  meetings; CSU will notify them by email of the meetings and in case in case they are not able to attend, a staff member in their area and/or unit would be designated to participate on their behalf.