Partners In Health Preparing for Hurricane Matthew

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Marvin, Media Relations Manager
jmarvin@pih.org

BOSTON (October 3, 2016) – With Hurricane Matthew expected to make landfall later today in Haiti, Partners In Health (PIH) and Zanmi Lasante, its sister organization in Haiti, are ramping up their existing resources there to help people survive the storm.

“Hurricane Matthew will cause flash floods and loss of infrastructure, and will worsen food and water insecurity, at a time when Haiti remains in the middle of the world’s most protracted cholera epidemic,” said Partners In Health Co-Founder Dr. Paul Farmer. “Our team in Haiti is prepared to make great sacrifices, just as they have during other crises, to help Haitians in need.”

“We are very concerned about the potential impact of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti – both because this is a very serious and severe storm with a high wind rating and anticipated very large rain fall, and also because so many people that we serve are extremely vulnerable to even small degrees of environmental damage,” said Partners In Health Senior Health and Policy Adviser Dr. Louise Ivers, who leads the organization’s cholera treatment and prevention activities.

“Our team of medical professionals and community health workers in Haiti are already working to provide care and shelter to help mitigate what could be devastating damage from Hurricane Matthew,” said Partners In Health CEO Dr. Gary Gottlieb. “As it struggles with Zika and a prolonged cholera epidemic, this hurricane is a natural disaster that compounds an already desperate public health situation. Partners In Health is prepared to augment the resources that we already have in place, and we will continue to support the Haitian government and local communities in every way possible.”

###

Partners In Health is an international medical organization that helps build and sustain public health systems in poor and underserved communities around the world. Launched in Haiti in 1987, Partners In Health today reaches 7 million people around the world and employs 18,000 people, including 15,000 local community health workers. Learn more about our work at www.pih.org.