Haiti: "The urgency still of upgrading the education system" (Series 5/5)
Audio 7:30 p.m.
Les Cayes (Haiti), after the earthquake of August 14, 2021 which affected the country killing more than 2,200 people.
© STANLEY LOUIS/AFP
By: Marion Cazanove
2 mins
Last episode of this special week, six months after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that killed 2,200 people.
In the disaster areas, access to health care and education remains very difficult.
Advertising
Three out of four schools were destroyed in the areas affected by the earthquake.
Six months later, the reconstruction has not really started, notes Nesmy Manigat, Minister of Education, interviewed by Amélie Baron: “
The bulk of the work has not really started yet.
We are still in a hurry, in relation to the education system.
Many children are still in tents, working in extremely difficult circumstances
”.
The arrival of funding has taken time and the delivery of aid is complicated by the threat of gangs.
Nesmy Manigat assures that "
the lessons have been learned
" since the 2010 earthquake and the poor management of the post-crisis situation.
"
We know that we absolutely need more transparency, that it goes through local Haitian NGOs.
The idea of this reconstruction is not so much to go and rebuild the building, the infrastructure, but that people work, participate, and that the Haitian economy benefits from it
”.
The earthquake also left 12,500 injured, in addition to 2,200 dead.
But many hospitals, already too few in the south of the country, have been destroyed or damaged.
Six months later, some health centers lack drugs and anti-Covid screening tests.
These shortages are partly due to a routing problem, linked to blockades by gangs.
Some patients living in rural areas also remain difficult to reach.
Michelson Saturday, a nurse in Jérémie, sometimes has to walk several kilometers to reach isolated hamlets.
He noticed an increase in pathologies linked to the living conditions made more precarious by the earthquake: "
There are pathologies linked to hygiene, since people live in overcrowding, their houses being destroyed
".
He is also worried about the increase in STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections): “
There is a lack of awareness among young people because the schools don't really work.
It is we, the health providers, who must go there to educate young people about the use of condoms and the prevention of STIs.
Also, some people in need engage in prostitution, which contributes to the increase in infections
”.
While many disaster victims still need care, these health professionals are noticing the marked decrease in medical NGOs.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Haiti
Earthquake in Haiti
Education
Health and medicine
Youth
finance
On the same subject
TRNHAITI
At least 100 dead in floods in Brazil
TRNHAITI
Haiti: 2 billion dollars expected to rebuild the country (Series 3/5)
TRNHAITI
Honduras: the United States requests the extradition of ex-president Hernandez