The chances of finding new survivors in the rubble of last week's earthquake in Haiti are now minimal, said a top Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) official today. But many survivors need urgent medical attention if they are to recover fully from injuries sustained in the quake.In addition, ensuring access to…
WHO/PAHO are part of an extraordinary humanitarian response to help the people of Haiti. This video produced by WHO highlights all the health action in the immediate aftermath of the devastating earthquake and the tragedy that followed. Select this link to see the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIHIjWiWu5U
Large numbers of people in need and organizations sending aid pose a major challenge for effective distributionWashington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2010 (PAHO) - A top official of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) acknowledged today that "much more needs to be done" to ensure that the international outpouring of…
PAHO/WHO has received a donation of medicines from the Queen Sofía Foundation of Spain, worth 600.000 Euros. The drugs will be used to treat people affected by the earthquake that struck Haiti last Tuesday.
Port au Prince, 19 Jan. The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (WHO/PAHO) has received a donation of medicines from…
The earthquake that struck Haiti last week has caused massive loss of life, thousands of injuries and displaced persons, and has essentially crippled the country's already fragile infrastructure. On the ground, communication and transportation remain incredibly difficult, if not nonexistent in most neighborhoods. Scarcities of the bare…
Guidelines for Response to Earthquakes
One of the unfortunate effects of large-scale disasters is mass casualties; often, first responders don't know what to do with the dead bodies of victims when morgues--if they are even available--fill up. PAHO/WHO has published Management of Dead Bodies after Disasters, a field manual for first responders…
As more and more organizations are reaching out to Haiti to provide emergency response, effective coordination is instrumental to reach the affected population in a timely manner. Coordination among agencies is crucial if aid is to be effective and life-saving. UN agencies, NGOs and other agencies are sharing expertise, medicines, staff…
Conditions on the ground in Haiti require aid teams to be entirely self-sufficientWashington, D.C., January 15, 2009 (PAHO) — Welcoming a "phenomenal" outpouring of aid for Haiti from countries in the Americas and throughout the world, a top Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) official said today that coordinating…
Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean offer an outpouring of supportWashington, D.C., Jan. 14, 2010 (PAHO) - The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is coordinating the mobilization of efforts to help health authorities in Haiti meet the basic health needs of their people in the aftermath of Tuesday's…