Haiti, especially the capital city Port-au-Prince, has seen a surge in gang violence creating a humanitarian crisis like never before.
With the latest alarming upsurge in gang violence, health facilities are coming under near-constant attack — stripped of their equipment, medicine, and even ambulances. Most have been forced to cease operating and staff are now displaced, leaving essential health care dangerously scarce for most people in the capital.
As the health care system teeters on the brink of collapse, your lifesaving gifts can make a world of difference to women and girls in Haiti.
Will you donate toward our Humanitarian Response Plan to deliver lifesaving care to women and girls in Haiti and wherever help is needed most around the world?
The largest public health facility in the capital has closed, along with 12 of the 15 health facilities supported by UNFPA. The remaining hospitals are overloaded, and armed groups controlling the main roads are disrupting supply routes for essentials such as food, water, medicine, and blood supplies.
“I saw several women who had to give birth by C-section before their due date, because of stress and high blood pressure caused by insecurity and repeated massive displacements,” said Dr. Batch Jean Jumeau, president of the Haitian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, when describing the traumatic conditions.
“Since the increase in gang attacks we have noticed a high rate of early pregnancy, particularly in certain accommodation sites,” he told UNFPA.
To reach those most in need, UNFPA and partners have deployed two mobile health teams across five displacement sites in Port-au-Prince.
The mobile units are currently seeing between 150 and 170 people, primarily women, every day. They are also providing food and hygiene kits in addition to psychosocial support and emergency shelter in cases of rape and other forms of violence against women.
Gifts from supporters have delivered much-needed aid — including over 2,000 Dignity Kits that include soap, sanitary pads, a solar lamp, and other basic hygiene items *and* over 200 Mama Kits that contain supplies for new mothers and newborns.
But the number of people displaced has swelled to over 360,000 and half the population now face record levels of hunger. More than 84,000 pregnant women lack secure access to health services and 1.2 million women and girls need protection against violence.
Will you make a gift to deliver lifesaving care to the women and girls around the world left most vulnerable during times of crisis? Millions of women and girls are counting on you today.
Thank you for being there.
— USA for UNFPA