PAHO Plays Key Health Role in Haiti Crisis

In response to the crisis surrounding the departure of former Haitian President Bertrand Aristide in late February, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) mobilized more than 70 staff from its headquarters and country office in Port-au-Prince to work with other domestic and foreign relief workers to restore essential health services.

Haitians carry off looted goods following the collapse of the Aristide government in February.

During the violence leading up to and following Aristide's departure, many of Haiti's hospitals and clinics (which were already poorly staffed and underequipped) were looted and vandalized, and some staff members were assassinated. Public services collapsed as a result of the breakdown in government, disrupting water and electricity supplies. Although some private hospitals remained open, public facilities—on which most Haitians rely—were severely disrupted.

"Salaries had not been paid since January, equipment and beds had been stolen or destroyed, and hospital staff were scared because some had been threatened right in the hospital," says Dana Van Alphen, PAHO regional adviser in emergency preparedness.

Following an initial needs assessment based on fact-finding missions deployed throughout Haiti, the PAHO team set up a basic coordinating system, working with key international and nongovernmental organizations to restore services in different health facilities. Among the participants were the U.S. Agency for International Development, UNICEF, the World Food Program, the United Nations Development Program, UNAIDS, nongovernmental organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Medicins du Monde, Oxfam, CARITAS, the Haitian Red Cross, and Catholic Relief Services, as well as local health authorities.

PAHO's PROMESS system, established in 1992 as the central agency for storing vaccines and immunization supplies in Haiti, was tapped to coordinate the distribution of medicines, including vaccines to replace those lost when local cold chains were broken in the absence of electricity.

PAHO's Humanitarian Supply Management System (SUMA) was also deployed to help coordinate the distribution of emergency relief supplies, including some six tons of donated medical materials that arrived during the first three weeks of March. The computerized system collects information on supplies arriving at airports, seaports, and borders, and the SUMA team assigns a priority to each item based on how it meets the needs of the disaster victims.

Through its Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Area, PAHO also played a key role in mobilizing some $3.7 million in relief funds from international sources. The funds will help further restore services in key public hospitals and clinics and will subsidize the prices of essential medicines and equipment.