But in the midst of violence and impotence, workers from the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, are doing their part to protect girls from unintended pregnancies and save the lives of women trying to give birth in conditions that the most difficult.
The gang’s blockade of the country’s main oil station in Port au Prince, has led to riots and severe shortages for weeks.
Physical therapy
Nearly three-quarters of critical hospitals are without power and cannot function, and there are shortages of medicine, oxygen and life-saving equipment. With public transport options non-existent, health workers cannot commute and only three ambulances operate in Port-au-Prince – with close to one operating in the rest of the country.
Terrorist violence has been raging across Haiti since July this year, with hundreds of people killed, raped and kidnapped and more than 25,000 driven from their homes in the capital in search of asylum – most of them are women and children.
Now in the midst of a complete lack of basic services, including functioning health facilities, access to safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and garbage collection, a disease outbreak is threatening the health and lives of millions of people. he was already hurt and poor.
The water-borne disease causes severe diarrhea that can be fatal if not treated within the first few hours: So far 18 have died and there are more than 250 suspected cases.
Risk of injury to infants
Without medical facilities or skilled health workers, among those most at risk of not getting the critical care they need are some 29,000 pregnant women and their newborns – even if they have the flu .
Another 10,000 obstetric complications may go untreated, and thousands of women and girls exposed to high rates of sexual violence and abuse are left without protective services.
Mother care services are near a stop in Haiti.
A professional book
Judline, a nurse and UNFPA regional worker in Port-au-Prince said “My professional commitment is to save lives, to prevent more girls and women from getting pregnant accidentally and dying during childbirth.
“I work with a group of local authorities, managing mobile clinics where women and adolescent girls can access reproductive health services,” she explained.
In the midst of violence and insecurity, she has continued to visit displacement camps when it is safe to do so, helping to ensure that women and girls receive the essential care they need.
Judline and her team identify and care for pregnant women who may experience complications and refer women and girls who have suffered violence to support services.
Mothers wait with their children to receive vaccinations at a UNFPA-supported hospital in southern Haiti.
Reluctant to speak
While Judline was walking in one of the camps, he met a fifteen-year-old girl named Nardine. “She was very slow to talk to me, but finally told me she was three months pregnant,” she recalled.
Knowing that the girl was going into labor early, Judline walked with her for more than two kilometers to reach La Paix University Hospital, where Nardine safely gave birth to a girl.
Haiti has the highest level of maternal mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a new rise in violence and instability threatening the lives of thousands of pregnant and breastfeeding women, especially those in transit stations.
UNFPA continues to provide a response to gender-based violence and protection through mobile health clinics and refers cases to appropriate health facilities for hospital and intensive care where possible.
The rest of the abuse
However, some 7,000 survivors of sexual violence will not be able to access medical and psychosocial care and thousands more are at risk if security measures are broken and essential services are forced to close.
I see myself as a hopeful, immediate ear for vulnerable women and girls
UNFPA has distributed hundreds of maternity and dignity kits to women and girls who lost everything as they fled their homes in Port-au-Prince, and has worked with partners to deliver energy supplies sleep in hospitals and health centers.
This has improved cold chain facilities to store vaccines and medicine, and has enabled essential maternity services to continue in 12 locations across the country – but solar power alone cannot keep hospitals running in full.
‘I can’t leave them’
Despite the risks to their own safety, Judline said her group will ensure that pregnant women and girls have access to clean water and provide treatment for those who are infected. “I can’t leave them,” he said.
“I see myself as a person of hope, an immediate ear for vulnerable women and girls crying for help.”
