Over 1/3 of Haitians live without food insecurity
800,000 people have been affected by the 2021 earthquake, including 340,000 children
1/5 children born in Haiti die before the age of five
60% of the population live below the poverty line
Over a decade after the catastrophic earthquake in January 2010, which devastated the island, killing more than 300,000 people and destroying 60% of the health system, another huge 7.2 magnitude quake hit the southwest of the island in August 2021. Many of the longstanding economic and political issues facing Haiti, such as financial inequality and gang violence, were compounded. More than 2,200 died and over 12,000 were injured as a direct result of the 2021 shock and more than 600,000 people were estimated to need assistance in the days after the event.
As the headlines became dominated by the military withdrawal from Afghanistan which was unfolding around the same time as the earthquake – the situation in Haiti was largely forgotten. Without public awareness of the escalating need, it became incredibly difficult for humanitarian agencies to raise critical funds to support the relief effort.
Many challenges in Haiti remain unsolved. Never fully recovering from the 2010 earthquake, it is still the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (with close to 60% of the population living below the national poverty line), as well as being one of the most inequitable in terms of wealth distribution.
Haiti’s infrastructure took a huge hit from the 2021 earthquake. 25 hospitals and health facilities in the southwest of the island were destroyed, putting an enormous strain on the facilities that were still operational. At least 59 of these facilities were damaged. Many hospitals were reported to be treating patients outside.
Haiti’s permanent state of insecurity limits people’s access to healthcare. The healthcare system is already extremely unequal, with private healthcare available only to those who can afford it, while public health facilities lack essential resources. The healthcare needs in the country are overwhelming, Haiti is the world’s seventh most vulnerable country in terms of infectious disease.
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£5 can help us to give 15 people treatment
£20 will provide 16 children with antibiotics
£100 will provide 83 pregnant women with life saving medicine.
£450 will provide am emergency medical kit to 60 families.
Whatever you give, you could be making a life-changing, even life-saving difference to someone every month.
£5 is enough to source and send £600 worth of medical supplies a year to people in need; enough to help approximately 50 people around the world.
£10 is enough to source and send £1,200 worth of medical supplies a year to people in need; enough to help approximately 100 people around the world.
£25 is enough to provide around 750 treatments in a year, helping approximately 250 people in need; and for some, is the difference between life & death.
£100 is enough to provide medicines and supplies for approximately 1,000 people a year living in disaster-hit and vulnerable communites.
Whatever you give, you could be making a life-changing, even life-saving difference to someone every month.
Responding quickly in the aftermath of a disaster is critical in minimising loss of life and suffering. IHP was able to respond within 14 days following the August 2021 earthquake with a shipment of antibiotics and facemasks to support the initial response. At the time of the earthquake, Haiti had only received about 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, enough for just 2% of the population. Which made face masks a vital supply for this response. Since the earthquake, 3.6 million treatments, 48 Essential Health Packs and more than a million facemasks have been sent to Haiti.
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