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Haiti

Five years after the Haiti earthquake: Progress from the bottom up

Malteser International invests $12 million in aid, stays until 2017

Port-au-Prince/Miami, Jan. 9. Five years after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, relief efforts focusing on sustainability and long-term development are starting to show promising results, reports humanitarian aid organization Malteser International.

Despite visible progress in several areas, such as the reconstruction of infrastructure such as hospitals and schools, many Haitians are still homeless or unemployed and in need of humanitarian assistance. Malteser International will continue working in the country until 2017, to finalize the handover of its projects to local authorities and Haitian grassroots organizations. So far, the Catholic relief agency has already invested $12 million in emergency relief and reconstruction efforts.

“Haiti remains a highly vulnerable country,” says Thomas Huefken, Malteser International’s program coordinator in Haiti. “People still live in very poor conditions, the country is hit by tropical hurricanes and cyclones every year, destroying crops and causing outbreaks of deadly diseases such as cholera.” To help decrease this vulnerability and increase the resilience of the Haitian population, Malteser International’s projects in the areas of health, water and sanitation, food security and disaster preparedness focus on training and strengthening local partners so they can carry on the work independently in the long run. “We teach them everything they need to know, from doing needs assessments, to managing a project, organizing logistics, and even conflict management,” Huefken says. “This bottom-up approach – with members of the community taking charge of their own development -- ensures that the projects will one day go on without us.”

A success story that demonstrates this approach is the maternal and infant health center and maternity ward in the town of Darbonne, in the district of Léogâne, some 50 miles away from the capital city. The center was opened in 2012 and is part of a clinic that Malteser International rebuilt after the earthquake together with the local Episcopal Church. Malteser International trained the clinic’s medical and administrative staff in primary health care and the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cholera. In 2014, Malteser International handed over the health station to the church, which now runs both devices independently. "When we opened the maternity ward two years ago, we had around 25 births per month. Currently, we deliver about 70 newborns in the same period," says the medical director of the health center, Dr. Alix Ariste. "The news about the clinic and its quality services has spread through the community." The clinic sees around 2,000 patients, does regular weight and growth checkups for more than 600 children, and gives more than 400 vaccinations every month.

About Malteser International:
Malteser International is the humanitarian relief agency of the Sovereign Order of Malta. With over 100 projects annually in some 25 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas, Malteser International has been standing by those affected by poverty, disease, conflict and disaster, helping them lead a healthy life with dignity – without distinction of religion, race or political persuasion. Christian values and the humanitarian principles build the foundation of its work.

Contact:
Joice Biazoto, Communications Manager
joice.biazoto@malteser-international.org
Phone: +1 305 448 5111 (work); +1 305 590 1818 (cell)