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15 years after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the country continues to struggle, particularly with ongoing gang violence, health and humanitarian challenges.

In 2024, the UN says over 5,600 people were killed due to violence alone.

CityNews spoke about this with Manon Hourdin, International Operations Director at Doctors of the World Canada.

How did the January 2010 earthquake impact Haiti’s health system and what’s the current state of it?

MH: Médecins du Monde, we’ve been in Haiti, we were there prior to the earthquake. We were already supporting the health system because of capacity-building needs, and some infrastructure needs. The country and the health system needed support to increase its capacity and respond to the health needs of the population. When the earthquake happened, it completely collapsed the health system. First, because everyone was impacted, or a large portion of the population and I’d like actually to pay my respects to everyone that has been affected directly or indirectly by that earthquake.

Médecins du Monde, we had our operation in Port-au-Prince, we had an office, we had staff. Some of them were killed, and lots of them were affected. Of course, it took a few days for us to put our operation back to work and then to go back to the community where we used to have HIV programming and those kinds of things. And the health system had collapsed, the infrastructure had collapsed. Some of the staff have been killed and there were so many needs that it created more health needs, the risk of epidemics, and people that were injured but couldn’t see some health professionals for a few days so it got infected. The whole system, the needs rose, and the system wasn’t able to face those needs.

And we’re seeing quite the same situation now. We have more than half of the health infrastructure in Port-au-Prince that is not functioning. Those that are functioning don’t have enough staff, enough medicine, enough medical equipment to face the needs of the population that itself faces more violence. Violence based on gender, we are seeing also an increase, a massive increase of sexual violence. So, the needs are rising but there is less and less access for that population to actually reach those professionals, those health infrastructures that could provide the assistance needed.

What kind of work are you doing with the Doctors of the World Canada, to help the situation currently?

MH: With Médecins du Monde, we’re working with the people who have been displaced. There’s a lot of people who actually had to leave their neighbourhood, their home and they’re either staying in overcrowded spaces that used to be schools, gyms or they stay with families. But that creates also so much intimacy and a lack of hygiene that it increases the risk of any disease. But we’re also seeing a lot of violence and sexual violence in those settings.

So, we go there to provide care but also to provide mental health services. That’s something that is really needed. We’re seeing people who have faced so much trauma in such a few years that we need to provide healthcare. So, those people will then be able to request or try to find some other needs that they have. We’re also working on health and reproductive rights. So, the schools have closed. The young boys and girls are being included in gangs or face a lot of violence or are being used for sexual favours.

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We’re working on that so they know what their rights are but also where to access health service care so they can reduce the risk of conflict. And we’re also working on the cholera response.

So, shortly after the 2010 earthquake, there was a cholera outbreak. It lasted 10 years. It’s an instrument we worked alongside with the Minister of Health to fight that disease for 10 years and a few months after it was officially declared out of the country, it resurfaced. And of course, the violence that we’re seeing in the participants, the displacement of the population, and the state or the means where they’re living increased the risk of contracting that disease. We are seeing a lot so far. The water that is being consumed is contaminated — that increases a lot of different risks. So, we’re trying to reduce that to sensitize the population to have oral points where they can access or treat the water to reduce that kind of risk.

What kind of assistance do you want to see from the international community?

MH: We want to see a bigger commitment from the international community. There are 5.5 million people in humanitarian need in Haiti and the humanitarian response is only funding around 40 per cent.

The Port-au-Prince airport has been closed for three months earlier this year and then in November and December again. So, this means that there’s no flights landing in Port-au-Prince. The port is also closed. So, there’s no means for people and materials to access. And then to get out of Port-au-Prince, we are only relying on a flight connection because we cannot take the road because of the gangs. And there is only one humanitarian helicopter and one humanitarian flight for the whole country.

So, anytime there is a problem, there are no more flights. We cannot send staff, we cannot send medicine, we cannot send anything. So, I think that actually provides a little bit of why it’s so hard and complicated. It needs an international commitment to face those needs.