Care in the camps

Just two weeks after the earthquake, Zanmi Lasante set up health clinics in four of the spontaneous settlements of tents, tarps, and makeshift shanties that had sprung up wherever earthquake survivors could find open land around Port-au-Prince. Eleven months later, three of these ZL clinics continue to provide comprehensive primary health care services, free of charge, to more than 100,000 people living in these settlements and surrounding communities.

Each clinic is staffed by a team of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and laboratory technicians. They are supported by dozens of settlement residents who have been trained and employed as community health workers, improving outreach into the community and providing jobs and income. On average, the clinics have been testing and treating nearly 10,000 patients each week, recording more than 240,000 patient visits through the end of November.

The most common diseases and conditions treated include: coughs and respiratory infections; malaria; diarrheal and gastrointestinal infections; malnutrition; and urinary tract infections. The clinics also provide testing for HIV and tuberculosis. And when a cholera epidemic broke out in mid-October, ZL mobilized community education and outreach campaigns in the settlements, and set up a specialized Cholera Treatment Unit in Parc Jean-Marie Vincent, the second largest settlement in Port-au-Prince with over 50,000 people.

In addition, specialty clinics and services have been established to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable settlement residents, including women, children, the disabled, and people suffering from depression, anxiety, and trauma-related mental health problems. Sante fanm (women’s health) clinics provide reproductive health care, pre- and post-natal care, and space where women can nurse their babies in comfort and safety. At every clinic, a nutrition program headed by a specially trained nurse screens children for malnutrition, and provides the ready-to-use therapeutic food (a fortified peanut–based paste) produced by ZL in the Central Plateau. Eight newly hired psychologists lead mental health and psychosocial support teams that had recorded more than 11,000 appointments through November 30.