A massive earthquake in Haiti last January that forced many people into homelessness continues to produce malnutrition in children, respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal diseases, according to Médecins Sans Frontière (MSF), an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization.

Over 1.5 million inhabitants are still living in temporary shelters, under a 2×2 metre piece of plastic sheeting (without floors or walls) held up with bits of wood or sticks and separated by only 50 to 60 centimetres of space, leaving them vulnerable to various infections and other medical problems.

“The health structures in Haiti were already fragile,” said Ivan Gayton, Deputy Head of Mission Haiti in a live webinar on Tuesday. “A great number of Haitians had difficult access to healthcare before this earthquake and now the situation is compounded.”

With the country’s economic and political problems, the reconstruction is proceeding slowly. But Gayton said MSF’s current response will not last much longer.

“We’re not the reconstruction organization,” he said. “We are the fire department. We are an emergency organization to get people through the real crisis and then to hand over to those who have a mandate and a capacity to rebuild.”

Dr. Jean Daniel Duhaime, a Montreal native and first-time MSF volunteer, works at the Orthopedic Hospital in Carrefour, a poor residential commune in the Port-au-Prince area.

Although he spends most of his time working with Haitian doctors who are learning to respond to trauma in new ways, Duhaime has experienced many encounters with patients that have left a lasting impression.

Recently, a 34-year-old diabetic patient came to the hospital with a severely infected foot that required amputation. “He’s an awesome guy,” said Duhaime. “He’s drawing, entertaining kids, laughing and extremely positive.”

(Unfortunately, there are many diabetics in Haiti that don’t have access to adequate treatment.)

After witnessing the aftermath of the earthquake, Duhaime felt a need to respond. And MSF’s approach to capacity building appealed to him.

“A lot of our staff are living in tents,” he said. “Some have lost families. Others travel two or three hours to come to work. These people are amazing. They are my main drive to be here.”

In addition to treating physical problems, MSF offers psycho-social support. Many patients (mostly women) have care giving roles that have to be assumed by an outsider while they spend months recuperating from their surgeries and going through rehabilitation after being injured in the earthquake.

National staff social workers assist families to come up with possible solutions.

“The impact is tremendous,” said Duhaime. “We’re not only treating the patient. We’re now treating the whole family.”

The Haiti earthquake response is the largest emergency response ever mounted by MSF.

“The city of 3.5 million people underwent a massive earthquake with lots of vulnerability in the first place,” said Gayton. “It’s been a learning curve for MSF. We’re still working out how to respond to such events in a really concentrated urban context.”

At the same time, MSF is concerned about a potential hurricane strike in the region. The hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. And experts are predicting a “busier-than-usual” season for 2010.

“I don’t think I can even really imagine what it would be like if we got a solid hurricane strike in the current conditions,” he said.

John Bonnar

John Bonnar is an independent journalist producing print, photo, video and audio stories about social justice issues in and around Toronto.