PORT-AU-PRINCE, June 21, 2024 — Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has shipped 80 tons of much-needed medical supplies to Haiti by air and by road since mid-June, after insecurity led to three months of supply disruptions.
The shipments arrived after Port-au-Prince’s international airport reopened, allowing MSF to resupply its programs, which were directly threatened by the shortages. However, much more is needed to cover all the needs of the medical facilities where MSF teams work in the country.
"In recent weeks, our medical facilities have been seriously under-supplied, to the point where we were in danger of having to interrupt patient care," said Mumuza Muhindo Musubaho, MSF's head of mission. "This arrival of medicines and medical supplies is a huge relief, but it only allows us to avoid a complete stock-out. We remain vigilant, and the teams are already working to organize new deliveries in order to reliably continue all our medical activities and thus be able to treat more patients."
Escalating violence in Port-au-Prince threatens health care
The health system in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area remains severely affected by the escalating violence that has ravaged the city in recent months. Thirty hospitals and health centers were closed in May, and the latent insecurity still prevents the vast majority of residents from visiting the facilities that remain functional in the city.
In April, MSF’s general hospital in Cité Soleil was forced to reduce the number of outpatient consultations by 50 percent due to a lack of medical supplies, and the opening of the patient admissions department had to be postponed. Since the medical supplies were delivered, the hospital’s capacity has now returned to normal, and it has been able to open 25 inpatient beds, including 15 for children.
One month after calling on all parties involved to facilitate the delivery of medical supplies to people in urgent need, MSF salutes the efforts of each party that made these crucial deliveries possible. "These shipments are the result of a close and valuable collaboration between MSF teams and public and customs authorities, in a particularly complicated context," added Musubaho. "We encourage all parties involved to continue to facilitate the receipt and transit of medical supplies from all health organizations and institutions, in order to ensure access to care for the population."
Rising medical and humanitarian needs
In Port-au-Prince, medical and humanitarian needs continue to worsen amid a high level of insecurity and reduced access to health care. From March to May 2024, MSF teams carried out 21,707 outpatient consultations and treated 8,449 patients with emergency needs—including 1,128 patients with gunshot wounds and 1,337 victims of road accidents—and admitted 81 severely burned patients to Tabarre Hospital.
Amid the current state of emergency in Haiti, supplying medical facilities remains a major concern. MSF calls on all parties to respect health care providers by guaranteeing the safe transport of supplies to medical centers.
