VIDEO: The Impact of Mobile Clinics in Haiti’s Earthquake Response

Clinics provide immediate response to injured, lifesaving connection to care in rural South

Posted on Dec 14, 2021

clinicians distribute medical items in Haiti
Clinicians distribute lifesaving medical supplies to patients at a mobile clinic in Les Cayes, Haiti. Photo by Frederique Montas / PIH

Four months after the devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake, Haitians in the southern peninsula continue to rebuild their lives and seek health care—many at mobile clinics established in the wake of the disaster.

Zanmi Lasante, Partners In Health’s sister organization in Haiti, has worked closely with colleagues in the Ministry of Health and other partnering organizations to set up, stock, staff, and supervise mobile clinics across Grand’Anse, South, and Nippes departments—the hardest hit by the August 14 quake, which killed more than 2,200 people and wounded more than 12,000, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

While clinicians and health workers triaged patients with acute trauma to specialized facilities for emergency care and surgery, such as Zanmi Lasante’s Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais, they also provided basic services to residents who lack regular access to care. Such patients arrive at the clinics malnourished, suffering from hypertension, in need of mental health support, and much more.

The mobile clinics’ impact has been immediate. In a single month in Koto, for example, 7,000 people were attended by Zanmi Lasante staff and partners. The video below shares more information about that impact, the people providing care day after day—now months after the earthquake, and the remaining need for those seeking the right to health in Haiti.

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