PAHO Director, at United Nations, Reaffirms Commitment to Support Haiti

Washington, D.C., March 27, 2006 (PAHO)—Pan American Health Organization Director Dr. Mirta Roses has reaffirmed the Organization's commitment to continue supporting the health agenda in Haiti, at a United Nations meeting with Haiti's President-Elect, René Preval, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and the President of the Security Council, Argentina's Foreign Minister, Jorge Taiana.

President-elect Preval, who takes office May 14, appealed for international help to spur development in Haiti at the meeting Monday, saying, "Today, Haiti is a country waiting to be built. The problems are enormous and there is widespread urgency. Poverty, widespread unemployment, the state of dilapidation of basic infrastructures that are necessary for development, chronic insecurity -- these are all the major challenges to be faced by the next government."

PAHO's Director, who appealed to the international community for solidarity with Haiti, has emphasized collaboration with Haiti as one of the Organization's priority countries, and has called on all countries in the Region to work together to help the people of Haiti. In 2004, Dr. Roses launched Vaccination Week in the Americas in Fond Parisien, on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The campaign provided vaccines against polio, rubella and measles, as well as vitamin A supplements. Women of childbearing age were vaccinated against tetanus, a serious threat to newborns in Haiti.

The Security Council said in a statement that completing the electoral process and installing a new government "will give Haiti a unique opportunity to break with the violence and political instability of the past." High-level political officials from throughout the hemisphere emphasized the commitment of their countries to short and long-term actions required for the sustainable recuperation of Haiti.

Dr. Rebeca Grynspan, Director of the U.N. Development Program's Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that joint work by UN agencies has been important in Haiti to help strengthen the country's institutions and build national capacity.

President-Elect Préval called on the international community ``to renew its commitment to a long-term assistance program for Haiti,'' saying that increased international assistance is ''indispensable'' to Haiti's economic recovery and for job creation and improvements in social services, as well as the reform of democratic institutions.

He told reporters that "People are in a desperate situation in terms of food. Above all, they have to be given emergency aid. We have to create jobs immediately to calm the situation."

Minister Taiana said that a new donors' conference would be held in Brazil in May, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the U.S. government "is committed to helping the Haitian people move down that road to democracy."

Preval is spending this week in Washington in meetings with the Organization of American States, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and government and Congressional officials.

PAHO, which works to improve health and raise living standards in all the countries of the Americas, was established in 1902 and serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization.