HHI Haiti Earthquake Relief Situation Report: 10 February, 2010
The efforts surrounding the Haitian earthquake disaster are evolving into a more organized relief effort. Many of the initial impromptu teams are departing and larger relief organizations have organized around the UN cluster system. The major health related needs are: 1) creating a national strategy for rehabilitation services 2) addressing large-scale curative medical needs, including hospital and primary clinic development 3) establishing a national strategy for health systems reconstruction.
Over the last week, the number of Harvard based programs have increased, and many innovative efforts made significant contributions. Harvard hospitals, HMS and HSPH have sent over 120 staff to the field to work with Partners in Health, IMSuRT, DMAT, the USNS Comfort and to the rehab center in Fond Parisien.
In this installment, there will be an update of the number of people affected and some of the next phase of needs, as well as a few interesting, innovative projects that speak to the creativity of our colleagues.
Update on Humanitarian Issues:
On February 6th, the Government of Haiti (GoH) issued revised figures for earthquake-related deaths, injuries, and displacement. The GoH recorded 212,000 deaths, more than 300,000 injuries, and more than 467,000 displaced people departing from Port-au-Prince for other locations in Haiti.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) DoD-estimated costs for the Haiti earthquake relief effort to $234 million. USAID and DoD have provided nearly $538 million for humanitarian assistance to Haiti for the earthquake.
Current Situation
Camp Management/Spontaneous settlements: More than 1.2 million individuals are residing in spontaneous (makeshift) settlements, plus 76,800 people hosted in organized sites. Need for population registration, increased shelter availability and latrine access. Sanitation and vector control is becoming a major concern in spontaneous settlements. More than 1,000 people are reportedly crossing the Jimani border into the Dominican Republic daily.
Emergency Food Assistance: The total number of people reached: 1.2 million and the total number of beneficiaries reached to date by U.N. World Food Program (WFP) partners to more than 2 million people. WFP working with UNICEF to coordinate humanitarian assistance to IDPs in areas along the Haitian side of the border with the Dominican Republic.
Immediate needs: blankets, water containers, hygiene kits (kit consists of essential personal hygiene items to meet the needs of a family of five for two weeks), and kitchen sets
Child Protection: The Protection Cluster partners established 32 child-friendly spaces to date, with the majority in the vicinity of Port-au-Prince. They continue to conduct assessments of settlement sites to identify potential protection concerns and inform clusters of distribution gaps.
Health: The Health Cluster reports a decrease in consultations for trauma-related injuries—from 20% of all consultations to ~10 % of cases. To date, there has been no significant increase in infectious diseases. At present, acute respiratory infections account for approximately 15 to 25 percent of all consultations.
Long term pressing health needs: treatment and rehabilitation of an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 or more earthquake amputees.
Ushahidi:
In Haiti? Text 4636 (International:+44 762.480.2524) on Digicel or Comcel with your location and need. Report emergencies and missing persons (Ushahidi link)
Ushahidi is a technology platform that uses crowd sourcing data (from texts, cell phones) to track information and relief materials. The Ushahidi Engine allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualize it on a map or timeline. During the earthquake, victims trapped under the rubble called via mobile phone and were located using the Ushahidi platform. Ushahidi has partnered with HHI to advance this method of collecting and distributing data in disasters and high complexity responses. They have create a simple way of aggregating information from the public for use in crisis response. http://www.ushahidi.com/
Apple i-phone patient registration app:
HHI colleagues from the BI Operational Medicine Program have created an i-phone patient registration system at the Fond Parisien Rehab Center, to register patients, track them though the rehab system, register for prosthetics and even create a biometric profile (e-fingerprints) for children and unaccompanied minors to guard against child abduction.
Update from Partners in Health:
PIH continues its effort to mobilize medical teams, and transitioning into rehabilitative services. PIH has called for a large increase in physical therapy and rehabilitation services. PIH has been transferring many patient to the USNS Comfort, which will continue to serve in the region for at least the next three months. Visit the PIH website at www.pih.org.
Harvard for Haiti: Benefit Concert at Harvard University : February 12, 2010
The Harvard for Haiti Benefit Concert brings members of Harvard's rich and talented arts community together to raise funds for the relief of our neighbors in Haiti. The concert will feature over a dozen performances, including many of Harvard's vibrant dance companies and choral ensembles,The list of performers also includes award winning instrumentalists such as internationally acclaimed violinist Ryu Goto '10, Charlie Albright '11, winner of the National Young Concert Artists Piano Competition, and jazz favorite Malcolm Campbell '10. All proceeds of the concert and related events go to Partners in Health. See the website: http://www.uc.fas.harvard.edu/index.php?page=haitiaiti