Haiti

The first quarter of 2024 was the deadliest since the UN began tracking armed group violence in Haiti. Between February and April, the number of patients arriving with gunshot wounds at MSF’s Tabarre trauma hospital surged from 60 to 100 per month, and we had to expand from 50 to 75 beds to meet the growing demand for surgery. Several major hospitals in Port-au-Prince closed due to mounting insecurity. In 2024, Haiti recorded 5,600 deaths and 2,200 injuries related to violence, a 17 percent increase compared to the previous year. 

Treatment for trauma and burns

In March, in response to the significant increase in emergency medical needs, MSF opened the Sant MSF pou Blese trauma centre in Carrefour, Port-au-Prince, to treat victims of gunshot wounds, stabbings, burns, and road accidents. The Turgeau emergency center, which had closed in December 2023 after a patient was forcibly taken from an ambulance and killed, reopened in March to strengthen emergency care.

On September 14, a fuel truck explosion in Miragoâne, Nippes department, injured many people. MSF responded by providing critical care to 16 burn victims at Tabarre trauma hospital, the only facility with a specialist burns unit in the country, and six others at Carrefour trauma hospital. As well as treatment for wounds, MSF offers physiotherapy and mental health support to burns patients.

Sexual and gender-based violence

The ongoing conflict in Port-au-Prince has led to a steep increase in sexual violence, leaving victims and survivors in urgent need of shelter, mental health support, and medical care. Since 2015, MSF has offered comprehensive medical and psychological support for survivors of sexual violence through Pran Men’m clinic. In 2024, we also provided these services at Carrefour maternity hospital and at a new program in Cité Soleil. Meanwhile, we concluded a five-year project that we had been running in Gonaïves, Artibonite department, focused on adolescent sexual health and supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence.

Maternal health

The maternal mortality rate in Haiti remains alarmingly high, rising from 154.9 deaths per 100,000 births in 2022 to 201.2 in 2023. The South department, still reeling from the 2021 earthquake, has one of the highest rates, at 343.9 deaths per 100,000 births. Many health care facilities have still not been repaired, while in Port-au-Prince, the brutal fighting in the streets prevents women from seeking care.

In response, MSF, in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health and Population, continues to offer emergency obstetric and neonatal services in Port-à-Piment, where teams assist with deliveries, including those requiring specialist care. To further improve maternal health care, MSF started to rehabilitate Isaïe Jeanty Maternity Hospital in the Chancerelles district of the capital in November 2024. Once completed, the facility will deliver free, high quality maternal care, family planning, support for victims and survivors of sexual violence, and referrals.