[Reporte Especial sobre la respuesta de la OPS al Terremoto en Haití]

Washington, DC. January 19, 2010.
126th WHO Executive Board - Special Session on HAITI. Geneva, Switzerland. (Video Conference)

PAHO Director special report to WHO-EB

"Global health response and aid to Haiti struggle to relief the humanitarian crisis"

This devastating natural disaster of unprecedented scale has compounded an already extremely challenging health situation in the most vulnerable country in AMRO. Our hearts and our actions are with the people of Haiti. The response required by us and the significant responsibilities we have as lead agency of the Health Cluster demand enormous resources.

Staff is working around the clock in many locations at the global, regional and country levels using all available resources to respond rapidly and effectively. Throughout these first six days since the earthquake, we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of good will from Member States in the Region and all over the world, as well as from our WHO colleagues around the world, who offer support, supplies, expertise and funds. We are very grateful for this demonstration of solidarity and generosity. We recognize the support from all the WHO Regional Directors and the Director-General and colleagues from WHO/Headquarters.

As the health arm of the inter-American system, we are liaising with the Organization of American States, as well as with the team of Regional Directors of UN agencies ...

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Washington DC. January 15, 2010.- Dr. Mirta Roses, PAHO Director, convened a teleconference between the UN Regional Directors for Latin American and the Caribbean (RDT LAC) to discuss a coordinatinated response to the Haiti emergency.

Dr. Roses provided updated information on the situation in Haiti and emphasized the importance of having a strong coordination and cooperation effort between UN agencies to ensure PAHO and the health cluster in Haiti can provide more effective health services that effectively treat thousands of injured people.

Directors and Representatives from UNDP, ECLAC, OCHA, OHCHR, UNAIDS, UNEP, UNFPA, UN-HABITAT, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNIFEM, UNOPS and WFP exchanged information about the latest news and assessments of the situation in Haiti, coordinated details on the mobilization of assistance by the different UN agencies and agreed on the urgent need for strengthening coordination for more effective delivery of aid and assistance.

All the agencies have reestablished permanent contact with their personnel in the country, to coordinate the arrival and subsequent distribution water, food, medical materials, communication tools, tents, etc.

In an effort to deliver a more coordinated response; a special session on Haiti took place this Monday, January 18, where other actions were addressed to meet the most critical needs of the people in Haiti in the short term.

A strong 6.1-magnitude aftershock shook Haiti today. Our Emergency Operations Center has not received any reports of additional damage or loss of life.

... PAHO has a country office in Haiti that, even before the earthquake, had 52 staff in-country working full time. Our role was to support Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health with technical cooperation, that is, with advice and state-of-the-art expertise about public health issues relating to the prevention and control of infectious diseases, health policy, immunization, maternal and child health, medical technologies, and—yes—the health aspects of disasters and humanitarian relief.

... In this crisis, PAHO/WHO—as the lead U.N. agency for health—is heading up what we call the Health Cluster in the humanitarian response there.

... Our main responsibilities are to assess the health situation in the aftermath of the earthquake, to make recommendations about priority health needs and interventions, to monitor health-related relief efforts, and to coordinate the various agencies providing health-related aid ...