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Three months after a devastating earthquake struck the south-west of Haiti, a hospital that was largely destroyed has continued to give mothers and their babies the care they need.
Next month, with the support of the Ministry of Health, UNFPA will deploy a full-fledged mobile emergency obstetric and newborn care unit to handle deliveries and obstetric complications.
UNFPA estimates that there are around 486,000 women of childbearing age – some 343,000 of whom are under 19 years of age. In the first two months after the earthquake, UNFPA supported some 1,540 births in health centres and hospitals.
Miracle baby
One of those deliveries took place during the recent visit of UNFPA Deputy Executive Director Diene Keita – the third of a busy morning following the birth of Yves and a baby girl.
“It was touching and very moving that this baby was born in the compound of this hospital that was razed to the ground by the earthquake”, she said, adding that “this is an example” of how well the UN can collaborate with local and national authorities to provide support during a humanitarian crisis.
Noting that this was a “joint effort of the UN”, she pointed out that the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UNFPA, the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, and WFP’s humanitarian air service, UNHAS, had all contributed to “the miracle of this baby being born”.
Reconstruction and recovery
While the humanitarian response to the earthquake is still ongoing in this part of south-west Haiti, thoughts are now turning to the longer-term reconstruction of not just this hospital, but all the damaged and destroyed homes and infrastructure, and to how communities can recover from the crisis to once again lead productive lives.
In January, an international conference is due to be hosted by the Haitian Government to raise some of the estimated $2 billion needed for reconstruction and recovery efforts.
Gender-based violence
Combatting gender-based violence (GBV) is part of that recovery and a top priority for UNFPA.
“Women and girls are more vulnerable after an earthquake because they are no longer living at home but living alongside strangers and they don’t have access to bathroom facilities”, saidTaina Camy who works on GBV issues at UNFPA.
“More than two months after the earthquake, we have made a lot of progress. We are able to provide more services to women and girls who are in need, especially at the local level”.
Back in the maternity tent in L’Asile’s community hospital, Désir Murielle, her baby Yves and the other mothers welcome another new arrival amidst hope that in the not-too-distant future the hospital will also be reborn in its physical form.
