 |
Field NewsThree Years Post-Quake, Meeting Urgent Medical Needs in Léogâne, HaitiJanuary 9, 2013The town of Léogâne lies about 18 miles (30 km) from Port-au-Prince; much of it was destroyed during the 2010 earthquake. Survivors of the quake have found housing for the most part, but the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital is still the only facility in the region that offers free medical care and 24-hour emergency treatment. Well before January 2010, most Haitians did not have access to free, quality medical care due to lack of money or available services. Despite the the vast amounts of international aid pledged after the quake, little progress has been made in health services, so MSF continues to try to fill this gap three years later. 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier Léogâne was the town closest to the epicentre of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010. The MSF hospital there opened in September of the same year. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, MSF staff treated victims in tents in Léogâne. The tents were subsequently replaced by a structure made from prefabricated shipping containers. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier MSF’s hospital in Léogâne is the only medical facility in the region that provides 24-hour emergency care and services that are free of charge. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier Every morning, up to 200 people arrive at the hospital hoping to receive care. Outpatient appointments are reserved for women and children under the age of five. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier A three-month-old baby is weighed under the watchful eye of his sister. A doctor diagnoses the child with the flu. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier A young woman, eight months pregnant, arrives at the hospital for her second prenatal appointment. Prenatal exams allow medical staff to identify potential signs of a high-risk pregnancy. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier There are usually 600 births per month in the maternity ward, and sometimes as many as 800. Caesarean sections are carried out, when necessary, in the hospital’s operating theater. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier A newborn boy is wrapped in a blanket in the hospital’s maternity ward. He is the fourteenth baby to be born that day, and the day is still far from over. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier A surgeon prepares to treat a woman with an injured leg. Alongside Caesarean sections, the most common surgical procedures at the hospital are operations to treat road accident victims. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier The cholera epidemic has made a comeback in the wake of Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy. Cholera patients are isolated and treated in tents away from the main section of the hospital. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier Dr. Roberge Cherry examines a patient suffering from cholera; she was acutely dehydrated when she arrived at hospital. After a person ingests the cholera bacterium, which is often spread through water or unwashed food, they will usually experience profuse vomiting or diarrhea and can die in as little as two hours if not adequately rehydrated. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier Every week, MSF health teams travel the length and breadth of Léogâne region to raise residents’ awareness of cholera. # 
Haiti 2012 © Emilie Régnier An MSF health worker explains how cholera is spread. Several humanitarian organizations who were helping fight the epidemic have pulled out for lack of funding, and the number of patients at MSF’s facility has grown. Most of the population still has no access to clean drinking water or proper sanitation, and cholera treatment has yet to be well integrated into the existing public health facilities. # 
Despite the the vast amounts of international aid pledged after the 2010 earthquake, little progress has been made in health services, so MSF continues to try to fill this gap in the town of Léogâne.
Related:Tags: Haiti, Natural Disaster, Cholera |
Subscribe to
|
|
|
|
||
