The earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, was a significant event that had far-reaching consequences for the country’s public health. The earthquake, which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, occurred at 16:53 local time and had its epicenter 17 km from the capital Port-au-Prince, a city with a population of approximately 2 million. The earthquake caused widespread damage to critical infrastructure, including basic utilities, transport, communication, and health facilities.
The earthquake’s impact on Haiti’s public health was severe, with many collapsed structures, including hospitals and health centers, resulting in a significant loss of life and a compromised capacity to respond to the crisis. The transport infrastructure was severely affected, including damage to the airport and harbour, while drinking water and sewer systems that were functional before the earthquake were no longer usable. The UN mission and peacekeeping operations were also severely affected.
The immediate health priorities following the earthquake included search and rescue for survivors trapped underneath the rubble, providing surgical/medical services to treat injured survivors, preventing wound infection, and providing shelter, food, clean water, and sanitation. International offers of humanitarian aid presented coordination challenges, but field hospitals were being deployed to meet the current needs.
Haiti is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country with a total land area of approximately 27,750 square kilometers. It is the third largest country in the Caribbean and occupies the western third of the Island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. The country has a tropical climate with some variation depending on altitude, with two rainy seasons and a hurricane season in August and September.
The population of Haiti was 9.7 million in 2007, making it the poorest country in the western hemisphere and ranking 149/182 on the UNDP Human Development Index 2007. In 2001, 55% of the population lived in households that were below the extreme poverty line of US$ 1 per person. The earthquake further exacerbated the country’s humanitarian crisis, which had already been ongoing for years due to a series of hurricanes and tropical storms in 2008.
The Communicable Disease Working Group on Emergencies (WHO/HQ) and the Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response (AMRO/PAHO); WHO Office, Haiti, conducted a public health risk assessment and interventions following the earthquake. The assessment aimed to provide health professionals with up-to-date technical guidance on the major public health threats faced by the earthquake-affected population.
The risk assessment identified several key public health threats, including wound infection, which was a significant concern due to the large number of injured survivors and the compromised capacity to provide medical care. The assessment also highlighted the need for shelter, food, clean water, and sanitation, as well as the importance of preventing the spread of infectious diseases.
The risk assessment was compiled jointly by the unit on Disease Control in Humanitarian Emergencies (DCE), part of the Global Alert and Response Department (GAR) in the Health Security and Environment cluster (HSE), in collaboration with the Health Action in Crises (HAC) cluster at World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters, and supported by the Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response and the Emergency and Humanitarian Action unit in the WHO Regional Office for the Americas and the WHO Country Office of Haiti.
The risk assessment was developed by the Communicable Diseases Working Group on Emergencies (CD-WGE) at WHO headquarters, which provides technical and operational support on communicable disease issues to WHO regional and country offices, ministries of health, other United Nations agencies, and nongovernmental and international organizations. The Working Group includes several departments and clusters within the WHO, including the Global Alert and Response (GAR), Food Safety, Zoonoses and Foodborne Diseases (FOS), Public Health and Environment (PHE), and others.
The risk assessment was made possible through the collaboration and input of the disease-specific focal points of the CD-WGE, the WHO Regional Office for the Americas, and the Country Office of the WHO Representative for Haiti. The WHO would also like to thank the Government of Ireland (Irish Aid) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of USAID for their continued support in the development of these documents.