Ten years after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, people here continue to suffer from the fallout of the disaster and now face a severe economic and political crisis as well. A main area of concern is access to health care.
"I can't emphasize enough how difficult it's been in this period for the basic functioning of hospitals," said Jane Coyne, former head of mission for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Haiti. "Every day, patients need to pay for the very basic supplies that are used to treat them, including gloves and sutures and drugs and other essential ingredients."
MSF's hospitals provide care for free, but our facilities are the exception. Both public and private hospitals and clinics don't have the funding to provide free care. With many more people now unemployed, families have to choose between health care and other basic needs.
