The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, most of Haiti’s 10 million people live on less than $2 a day. The severe economic situation, combined with increased fuel and food costs, the effect of natural disasters and chronic unemployment has placed a serious burden on an already vulnerable population.
On 12 January 2010 a powerful earthquake struck Haiti, leaving as many as 230,000 people dead and 1.2 million displaced and living in temporary shelter. The earthquake exacerbated an already inadequate health situation, with the collapse of at least eight hospitals and health centres in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Those facilities still standing are stretched beyond capacity with limited health workers to respond to the increasing number of patients.
HOW MERLIN IS HELPING:
Emergency response
Merlin launched an emergency response within 48 hours of the earthquake and mobilized a specialized surgical and medical team to Delmas 33, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. On an abandoned tennis court, Merlin established a fully functional, tented surgical hospital. The field hospital has four ward tents, a surgical theater with two operating tables, 40 beds for in-patient treatment, a lab and an out-patient dispensary - treating upwards of 300 people in one day.
Our surgical team is saving lives and limbs as well as performing reconstructive surgery and more complicated surgical interventions when follow-up or staged operations are needed.
Merlin has built on a dual approach - combining an orthopedic and plastic surgeon - from the earthquake response in Padang, Indonesia. It has clearly proven to save lives and limbs in patients with common earthquake-related injuries. As more complex cases emerge that require a more sophisticated environment, Merlin has started to phase out its surgical intervention and will close the hospital in early April.
Health staff are working with patients who need ongoing treatment and follow-up care, providing referrals for physical rehabilitation and prosthetics as needed. We continue to assess how we can support government institutions to provide support to orthopaedics and plastics in the long-term.
To ensure patients stay healthy while they rebuild their lives, Merlin provides a discharge kit that includes a tent, a mosquito net, a cooking set, a hygiene kit, a blanket and mattress.
Mobile clinics
In partnership with Medicos del Mundo (MDM Spain), Merlin is operating a mobile clinic team in and around the rural areas of Petit Goave and Grand Goave, which are two hours from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The mobile clinic circuit includes seven villages — each are underserved with significant health needs. Merlin’s teams of doctors and nurses will offer basic, maternal and neo-natal health care, while referring more severe cases to local hospitals for secondary treatment as needed. A second team will begin once local assessments are completed.
Merlin is carrying out additional assessments in camps around Delmas 33 to identify health needs in camps for two more mobile clinic teams.
Long-term support
We work in coordination with the Ministry of Health to support existing health structures, providing supplies and equipment as well as training and supervising local health workers to help rebuild the capacity of Haiti’s health system.
Key achievements
- Surgical teams have completed over 370 procedures in two months
- Treating up to 315 people a day at our surgical unit in Delmas 33, Port-au Prince, over 5,600 total patients seen
- Delivering over 37.4 tonnes of medical supplies
Donors supporting Merlin’s work
DFID, SIDA, DEC, Man Group, World Jewish Relief, Provincial Grand Lodge of Surrey, The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation and many other corporate and private donors.
Read more about Haiti
Haiti: A successful referral gets a very sick teen back on the road to health
Apr 13 2010: Lizzy Berryman is Merlin's Country Health Director in Haiti. This is her second field diary.
Haiti field diary: Mobile clinics a lifeline
Apr 9 2010: Lizzy Berryman is Merlin’s Country Health Director in Haiti. Here she writes about the vital importance of our mobile clinics, as they enter their fourth week of operation.
What does "limited access to health care" really mean?
Apr 6 2010: Jacqueline Koch recently visited Merlin's projects in Haiti. Here she writes about visiting a mobile clinic to find out what it really means to have limited access to health care.
Healing Haiti with a long-term commitment
Mar 30 2010: Alex Cottin was on the ground in Haiti in the days after the earthquake struck. Here he reflects on the experience.
Haiti field diary: Scorching heat or heavy rains
Mar 29 2010: Jacqueline Koch is working with Merlin in Haiti. In her third field diary, Jacqueline writes about the threat of the coming rainy season.
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