Direct Relief's Activities in Haiti

Learn about Direct Relief's Haiti Quake response 

Haiti, a small Caribbean nation, occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola adjacent to the Dominican Republic. According to the United Nations Human Development Report, Haiti is considered the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and also has the lowest life expectancy rate of 51.5 years; 78 percent of its population of 8.9 million lives on less than US $2 per day. ¹ Seventy percent of Haitians lack sustainable access to safe sanitation while 46 percent lack sustainable access to safe water supplies. Haiti has the highest prevalence of maternal mortality, infant mortality, and HIV infection in the Western Hemisphere. ² Primary public health problems include HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, and perinatal conditions, including low birth weight and birth trauma. ³  

Direct Relief has provided nearly $60 million (wholesale) in medical material assistance to Haiti since 2000, focusing on primary health care and basic medical supplies.

Direct Relief’s key partners in Haiti include Food for the Poor, Inc., Justinian University Hospital, Partners in Health Zanmi Lasante, and Visitation Hospital. Food for the Poor is a Catholic relief agency founded in 1982 and offers assistance to the poor throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In cooperation with Food for the Poor, Direct Relief has provided large quantities of cold preparations, personal care supplies, antibiotics, analgesics, and first aid materials distributed to charitable healthcare facilities throughout the country.

Justinian University Hospital is a public regional health center located in Haiti’s second-largest city, Cap-Haitien. Direct Relief has outfitted JUH with sterilizers, hospital beds, patient examination equipment, heart medicines, vitamin and mineral supplements, antibiotics, analgesics, antiparasitic medicines, and first-aid supplies.

Zanmi Lasante is Partners in Health's oldest project. It began in 1985 as a small community clinic treating patients in the village of Cange. Today the clinic has become the Zanmi Lasante Sociomedical Complex, featuring a 104-bed, full-service hospital with two operating rooms, adult and pediatric inpatient wards, an infectious diseases center, an outpatient clinic, a women's health clinic, opthalmology and general medicine clinics, a laboratory, a pharmaceutical warehouse, a Red Cross blood bank, radiographic services, and a dozen schools. Zanmi Lasante has expanded its operations to eight other sites across Haiti's Central Plateau. In the last year, Direct Relief has helped equip the newly constructed hospital in Lacolline with donations of beds, exam tables, sterilizers, and general hospital supplies.

Visitation Hospital serves between 80 and 90 patients a day at its facility, which is designed to be environmentally sustainable. Its programs include a community health initiative in nutrition and vitamin distribution to help alleviate malnourishment among children, as well as programs for deworming and water purification. The facility houses a lab and pharmacy, seven exam rooms, two medical/dental procedure rooms, and a food bank. Malaria, hypertension, malnutrition, and gastrointestinal issues are most frequently seen among patients.

Direct Relief's Partners in Haiti