Despite severe constraints people face trying to access care, MSF teams have recorded a marked increase in patients with violence-related injuries.
In the first two weeks of January, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in Haiti treated more than 100 people injured by violence at the MSF hospital in the Drouillard neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.
Since late December, the city has seen a surge in clashes between the Haitian National Police and armed groups, mainly in densely populated neighborhoods under the control of armed groups. For thousands of civilians, daily life is now marked by gunfire and drone strikes, leaving many trapped in these areas.
As needs rise, hospital access deteriorates
Surviving violence is only the first step for injured patients in Port-au-Prince, who must also cross long barricades, navigate blocked roads, and pass through neighborhoods under fire to reach one of the few hospitals still operational. Many medical facilities in the capital are closed or only partially functional, and some have been attacked or looted by armed groups. Only one public hospital with surgical capacity remains open, while most others are private and largely inaccessible to the most vulnerable people in the city.
"Suddenly, I felt something hit my foot"
“People had taken refuge in the side streets, and I joined them. Someone suddenly yelled, ‘The tank is coming!’ People started running. I did the same. Suddenly, I felt something hit my foot. I fell to the ground ... my sandal was gone, and my heel was split in two. I thought I was going to lose my foot needlessly, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. I was in pain, but I took off my shirt and used it to bandage my foot."
— Anderson, MSF patient
“In my area, there are no hospitals and no medicines,” said Anderson, a kitchenware merchant and MSF patient. “There are a few doctors, but they barely have enough to provide basic dressings.” Anderson was admitted to MSF’s Tabarre Trauma Hospital in early January after being shot in the heel while returning home in a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince controlled by armed groups.
“People no longer dare to leave these areas — they are afraid,” he said. “Those coming from my area are always seen as criminals, especially if they are shot, even if they haven’t done anything wrong. Ambulances do not come here, and motorcycle taxis often refuse to transport the injured for fear of being targeted themselves.”
MSF records marked increase in patient admissions
Despite the severe constraints people face while trying to access care, MSF has recorded a marked increase in violence-related admissions at our Drouillard Hospital. Between December 29, 2025, and January 12, 2026, 101 patients who were injured by violence were admitted, including 66 with gunshot wounds. This two-week figure already far exceeds the monthly average of 54 gunshot wound admissions at Drouillard in 2025. Of these patients, 30 percent were women and 9 percent were children under 15.
Patients requiring surgical care are referred to Tabarre Hospital, one of the last facilities in the capital still able to provide free specialized surgical care. These referrals, however, occur under precarious conditions. For over a year, MSF has had to suspend our ambulance service due to repeated threats and attacks on vehicles and patients during transfers between medical facilities. Some vehicles from the state ambulance center remain operational, but their capacity is insufficient. As a result, many critically injured patients arrive late, after fighting has subsided in their neighborhoods, often transported by non-medical means such as motorcycle taxis.
“Am I going to survive?”
“I just had a baby who isn’t even a month old. And right after that, I was shot, and now I will have to live with it. Some people told me that if the bullet isn’t removed, I might die. Since then, I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions: 'Am I going to die?' 'Am I going to survive?' It’s very shocking. But the medical team reassured me a lot and told me that I wasn’t going to die.
To think that just a few minutes earlier I was holding my baby… I had just passed him to the person next to me when I was hit.”
— Linda, MSF patient
“Many patients arrive with worsened injuries because they were unable to access care earlier,” said Dembélé Dionkounda, physician and medical coordinator at Tabarre Hospital. “In the past two weeks, most violence-related admissions involved gunshot wounds — often severe, causing open fractures or abdominal trauma. With over 40 such cases, these injuries make up the majority of patients we treated during this period.”
In 2025, 686 patients injured by violence were admitted to MSF’s Tabarre Hospital, nearly 90 percent of them with gunshot wounds. Among those shot were 193 women and 47 children under 14. The trend shows no sign of slowing: MSF admitted eight patients with gunshot wounds in a single day this January, highlighting the persistence and intensity of violence in the capital.