PAHO works to restore public health services in Haiti

Bulletin of the World Health Organization, April, 2004

The rebellion in Haiti which erupted in early February 2004 forcing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile on 29 February has had a devastating effect on an already precarious health system, said officials from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the WHO Regional Office for the Americas.

PAHO reported on 1 March that most of Haiti's public hospitals and health centres had ceased full operations--including the State University Hospital which takes care of the capital city's population--and that the situation was compounded by a lack of electricity and water, triggered by fuel shortages. Whilst most of the private hospitals were beginning to resume operations, the eight hospitals in the area surrounding the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, were unable to...