Six months after the quake: risks, support and opportunities impact the lives of children in Haiti
SYDNEY, 12 July 2010 – Six months after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, UNICEF continues to provide assistance to the 3 million people who were affected by the devastating quake, yet the challenges to meet the needs of more than 800,000 affected children and their families remain daunting.
UNICEF has increased access to water for over 333,000 people per day, has constructed over 9,000 latrines and has immunised 275,000 children against major vaccine-preventable diseases, acting as coordinator in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; and Education and Nutrition clusters.
“The earthquake in Haiti was a disaster for children and it isn't over yet," said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director. "UNICEF and its partners are working hard every day to save lives and help children claim their future."
Yet, there has been important progress made to ensuring the survival, development and protection of children – there has been no deterioration of the humanitarian situation, with no epidemics or disease outbreaks and much-anticipated malnutrition crisis has not manifested itself yet.
Today, safe water is being provided to some 1.2 million people through our partnership with other aid organisations and UNICEF is directly providing water to 330,000. More than 275,000 children have been immunised against major vaccine preventable diseases. Nutrition programs are providing food to some 550,000 people with special needs - children under five and lactating women – and some 2000 children with severe acute malnutrition are now receiving life-saving therapeutic feeding and care. Some 500,000 children in total have received basic education materials, 185,000 children from UNICEF’s own programs. And special training has been provided to some 2,300 teachers and 3,000 education personnel.
As the hurricane season approaches, which last year affected 800,000 people, UNICEF is supporting the government, UN agencies and NGOs to ensure people living in the areas susceptible to flooding and landslides can relocate to safer ground. There is a risk that the makeshift settlements that sprung up in already overcrowded urban areas could become urban slums. A move must be made to ensure more permanent housing and infrastructure is created.
Accelerating site clearance, identifying solutions for relocation of displaced families occupying school grounds and speeding up school construction to ensure space is available before the next school year are both challenges and priorities for UNICEF and its partners. UNICEF is also working with the Government to alleviate the burden of school fees in a context where ninety per cent of schools are fee-based and not public.
Education is a key to empowerment, poverty eradication and the overall transformation of the country and presents the most salient example of aiming higher than the status quo. UNICEF has reached 185,000 children with basic education materials and provided 1,297 school tents for 155,000 children. So far, 80 per cent of schools in Port-au-Prince have reopened. School will break for the summer by the end of July and UNICEF is working on a daily basis to ensure a strong enrolment drive ahead of the next school year, scheduled to start in October.
The earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 exacerbated pre-existing gaps, disparities and vulnerabilities, destroying a nation already gripped by poverty; prior to the quake, Haiti had the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the region, only half of primary school aged children were enrolled in school, and a weak health and child protection system left people and children vulnerable.
It left behind a death toll of over 220,000 persons and over 300,000 injured in an already fragile nation. Some two million persons have been displaced from their homes and some 1.6 million of them remain in overcrowded displacement camps. The country’s infrastructure, never strong, was devastated with 60 per cent of government infrastructure destroyed and over 180,000 homes uninhabitable.
Details of UNICEF’s assessment of conditions in Haiti and its activities since the earthquake are contained in a report, titled Children of Haiti: Milestones and looking forward at six months, launched in Geneva today.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
For more information, please contact:
Martha Tattersall, UNICEF Australia
0421 570 393
mtattersall@unicef.org.au