UNFPA's Work in Haiti
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Making sure the needs of women and girls and other vulnerable groups are considered in every stage of the recovery and rebuilding phase is a top priority for UNFPA.
Before the quake, Haiti was the most dangerous place to be pregnant in the Western Hemisphere, with the lifetime risk of dying in childbirth 1 in 47. Haitian women and children were also vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking and physical and sexual abuse. UNFPA's work in Haiti focuses on: assistance in the area of maternal and reproductive health for the affected population; protecting women and girls against gender based violence; helping young people recover and collecting reliable data on the affected population and their needs.
UNFPA is working with partners to deliver emergency reproductive health supplies to hospitals and health facilities throughout Port-au-Prince. To date, the organization has distributed enough kits to serve a population of 1.5 million. The kits include equipment, supplies and medicines for safe deliveries, including for emergency obstetric interventions, such as caesarean operations and blood transfusions. The kits also contain medicines and supplies to treat sexually transmitted infections and provide post-rape care. The kits are being distributed to hospitals, clinics and the health centers that have been established in the spontaneous settlements where the displaced are living.
UNFPA is also helping to safeguard the personal hygiene and health of women and girls by providing dignity kits which include items such as sanitary napkins, anti-bacterial soap, underwear, towels and washing supplies. More than 25,000 dignity kits have been distributed and another 150,000 are in the pipeline. UNFPA is distributing the kits in partnership with the Ministry for Women.
UNFPA is working in a number of areas to improve delivery and newborn care. The availability of emergency obstetric was very limited before the earthquake, and today access to these services is even more limited. There is a serious shortage of experienced midwives and maternity clinics to meet the needs of women in the impacted area. As a result, UNFPA is recruiting senior midwives to commit to working in Haiti for a minimum of one year.
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Related News
12 July 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Six months after the 7.0 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 Haitians, an estimated 1.5 million people are still living in temporary camps. Their reproductive health needs, including maternal and neonatal health, are now being met by a range of mobile and temporary clinics in addition to those offered by the city’s hospitals that survived the quake.
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21 April 2010
NEW YORK — When the subject of post-earthquake Haiti comes up, people often talk about getting back to normal. But for Haiti, where ‘normal’ was a series of crises, the goal must be to rebuild better. In a panel discussion last week at UNFPA, experts attempted to answer the question of how to solve the problems caused by the earthquakes while also addressing broader and deeply entrenched problems that Haiti has been grappling with for years. Panelists included Elisabeth Lindenmayer of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, Garry Conille, Chief of Staff of UN Office of Special Envoy to Haiti, Marcela Suazo, Director of UNFPA’s Latin and Caribbean regional office, and Natalie Caruso of the women’s rights organization MADRE.
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19 March 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Every day for the past week, Emanuel Eliacin has led an operation that seems like Mission Impossible: Select a thousand 11- to 16-year olds from camps for the displaced population, put them on 20 buses, and drive them to a day camp. Let them run around, play sports and games, dance, draw or take part in a wealth of other activities. Feed them, and then get them safely back to their parents at the end of the day.
In the earthquake-stricken Haitian capital, temporary settlements have spilled into parks, side streets, squares, even golf courses. Addresses are non-existent and communication is mostly by word of mouth.
In this environment, Eliacin’s task seems Herculean, but appears to be carried out in an almost mystifyingly organized manner.
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09 March 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE — “There was sadness, but also songs of joy and a strong commitment to rebuild Haiti,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, after attending an International Women’s Day celebration on the grounds of the Haitian Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Port-au-Prince, the country’s earthquake-ravaged capital.
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was completely destroyed in the January 12 earthquake, along with the Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Health and scores of other public buildings. Many women activists died, trapped inside the Ministry. A memorial was held today to honor them.
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04 February 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE—Older people and female heads of household are the two most vulnerable groups affected by the 12 January earthquake in Haiti.
That finding was among the preliminary results of a rapid needs assessment carried out by the IASC (inter-agency steering committee member organizations), coordinated by OCHA (the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) together with the Haitian government.
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