Giuseppe
Emeritus
Recovering from Disaster -- Partners in Health and the Haitian Earthquake (N Engl J Med., extract, edited)
Published at www.nejm.org February 17, 2010 (10.1056/NEJMp1001705)
Recovering from Disaster ? Partners in Health and the Haitian Earthquake
Tracy Kidder
The earthquake of January 12 killed many of Haiti's doctors and nurses and destroyed a large part of the country's medical infrastructure. But Zanmi Lasante (ZL), the Haitian branch of Partners in Health (PIH), was left intact. ZL had been the largest health care provider in rural Haiti. After the quake, it became (temporarily, at least) the largest and one of the most important in the entire country.
PIH was founded in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer and a small group of colleagues. Together, they built a clinic in a rural, desperately impoverished squatter settlement of farmers who had lost their land to a hydroelectric dam. PIH now works in 12 countries on four continents, but in many ways Haiti remains its heart and soul. ZL has become a comprehensive public health system supported by international donors but staffed almost entirely by Haitians: about 4000 people in all, including some 120 doctors, 600 nurses, and 2000 trained and salaried community health workers. It has brought AIDS and tuberculosis under control in the province called the Central Plateau, vaccinated nearly everyone in its large catchment area, cleaned up water supplies, built houses for the poorest patients, renovated and supported schools, and launched programs to feed thousands of Haitians daily with locally produced food. All in all, ZL directly serves 1.2 million people, at no cost to the local population, and has built or renovated 12 hospitals and clinics, six with surgical facilities, all with well-stocked pharmacies, and made the Haitian Ministry of Health its partner in their ownership and operation.
Members of ZL's staff were some of the first health care workers to respond to the disaster. Some ZL doctors have homes in the capital and happened to be there at the time of the quake. One of them, Dr. Patrick Almazor, set up a clinic in his backyard and spent the night caring as he best he could for about 50 injured people. Dr. Louise Ivers of Harvard Medical School was also in Port-au-Prince, attending (ironically enough) a United Nations meeting about emergency preparedness. Once she had escaped from the crumbling building where the meeting took place, she and a number of volunteers set up an impromptu clinic in a driveway, using license plates for splints.
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<cite cite="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMp1001705?query=TOC">NEJM -- Recovering from Disaster -- Partners in Health and the Haitian Earthquake</cite>Recovering from Disaster ? Partners in Health and the Haitian Earthquake
Tracy Kidder
The earthquake of January 12 killed many of Haiti's doctors and nurses and destroyed a large part of the country's medical infrastructure. But Zanmi Lasante (ZL), the Haitian branch of Partners in Health (PIH), was left intact. ZL had been the largest health care provider in rural Haiti. After the quake, it became (temporarily, at least) the largest and one of the most important in the entire country.
PIH was founded in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer and a small group of colleagues. Together, they built a clinic in a rural, desperately impoverished squatter settlement of farmers who had lost their land to a hydroelectric dam. PIH now works in 12 countries on four continents, but in many ways Haiti remains its heart and soul. ZL has become a comprehensive public health system supported by international donors but staffed almost entirely by Haitians: about 4000 people in all, including some 120 doctors, 600 nurses, and 2000 trained and salaried community health workers. It has brought AIDS and tuberculosis under control in the province called the Central Plateau, vaccinated nearly everyone in its large catchment area, cleaned up water supplies, built houses for the poorest patients, renovated and supported schools, and launched programs to feed thousands of Haitians daily with locally produced food. All in all, ZL directly serves 1.2 million people, at no cost to the local population, and has built or renovated 12 hospitals and clinics, six with surgical facilities, all with well-stocked pharmacies, and made the Haitian Ministry of Health its partner in their ownership and operation.
Members of ZL's staff were some of the first health care workers to respond to the disaster. Some ZL doctors have homes in the capital and happened to be there at the time of the quake. One of them, Dr. Patrick Almazor, set up a clinic in his backyard and spent the night caring as he best he could for about 50 injured people. Dr. Louise Ivers of Harvard Medical School was also in Port-au-Prince, attending (ironically enough) a United Nations meeting about emergency preparedness. Once she had escaped from the crumbling building where the meeting took place, she and a number of volunteers set up an impromptu clinic in a driveway, using license plates for splints.
(...)
[For Free Full Document, follow the link below]