Haiti Earthquake: AmeriCares Medical Aid and Disaster Relief

Two Years Later: Improving Health and Building Hope in Haiti

Within 48 hours of the deadly January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, AmeriCares arrived, airlifting $6 million in crucial medicines that made a lifesaving difference to the countless numbers of innocent people trapped in the rubble and chaos.

Two years later, we remain firmly on the ground – with a clear plan of action to strengthen Haiti’s health care system and bring help to thousands of families who struggle daily with poverty, disease, and malnutrition.

Working with our trusted partners, AmeriCares ongoing aid to Haiti helps immediately, and contributes to lasting change:

• More children are being vaccinated against the threat of disease;
• Expectant mothers and their babies are getting the care they need to survive and thrive;
• Neighborhoods, orphanages, and villages are winning the fight against cholera, and learning how to best prevent its onset;
• Young girls, once threatened by violence, are empowered by safe spaces where they can learn and grow;
• Health workers are being trained to help their communities today, and respond to future disasters.

In 2010 and 2011: 

$54 million in aid delivered by AmeriCares, including 950 shipments to help 100+ hospitals, clinics and health providers care for more people in urgent need. 

670,000 treatments provided to 409 volunteer medical teams who traveled to Haiti to treat survivors in the aftermath of the earthquake. 

AmeriCares has been delivering aid to Haiti since 1984 and opened an office and warehouse in Port-au-Prince after a massive outpouring of support from donors following the January, 2010 earthquake. Today, AmeriCares sends over 300 aid shipments a year to Haiti—an average of one shipment a day—to health care facilities throughout the country.

Haiti Aid History
Working toward a healthy future

In the two years since a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake shattered millions of lives, AmeriCares has been hard at work helping the people of Haiti move forward and build a stronger, healthier future.

Partnering with more than 100 hospitals and clinics throughout the country since 2010, we have delivered:

• $54 million* in aid, including:
• 2.5 million medical treatments to help people with cholera, diarrhea, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, pain, trauma, wounds, respiratory illness, infections, eye diseases, blindness, malnutrition, obstetric emergencies and more;
• 950 shipments, including medicines, medical supplies, purified water, nutritional supplements, surgical supplies, medical and diagnostic equipment and more;
• Medicines and medical supplies for 409 volunteer medical trips to treat earthquake survivors.

Our work in Haiti began in 1984, and today, AmeriCares Haiti – with its office, warehouse, and staff of 13 employees -- is officially recognized as a non-governmental organization within the country. Working with trusted partners, we are providing vaccines for children, training healthcare workers, promoting health care education, stocking medical supplies to combat cholera and increasing access to health care throughout Haiti.

*All figures as of December, 2011

Haiti Health Initiatives
Hope and progress in four key program areas

The need is great and the challenges are many. That’s why AmeriCares Haiti continues to expand programming, focusing on filling urgent health care gaps, rebuilding and strengthening the overall healthcare system, and meeting the needs of the country’s most vulnerable populations, especially mothers, children and people living with chronic diseases, such as diabetes. 

Every step of the way, we collaborate closely with partners—hospitals, government health agencies and other health care providers—to ensure we are delivering the right aid to the right people at the right time.  

Moving forward, we aim to build on the progress we’ve made in four key program areas:

• Improving access to health care
• Controlling and preventing cholera outbreaks
• Improving maternal and child health
• Preparing for future disasters