Haiti: MSF suspends its activities in Cité Soleil, a poor district of the capital
The facade of the "Pran men'm" (Take my hand) clinic of Doctors Without Borders in the commune of Delmas 33, Port-au-Prince.
AFP - VALERIE BAERISWYL
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Armed gangs have absolute control over certain neighborhoods and kidnappings for ransom are committed every day, mainly in the capital Port-au-Prince.
It is in this context that Médecins sans frontières (MSF) announces the temporary suspension of its activities in Cité Soleil.
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With our correspondent in Port-au-Prince,
Amélie Baron
Gang violence
continues to affect daily life in Haiti.
Violence has been committed against people who wanted to go to its emergency centre, which is why the organization has suspended its activities there.
The measure is intended to be temporary, but MSF specifies that this hospital will remain closed “
until the security conditions are guaranteed
”.
painful decision
“
We condemn all forms of obstruction and violence against medical aid, our patients and our staff members
,” explains Thierry Goffeau, MSF head of mission in Haiti.
For the NGO, it is a painful decision because, in Cité Soleil, it took care of the victims of violence.
Reducing access to care when the needs are only increasing was a difficult but necessary choice for the safety of patients and MSF staff.
Already in August, the NGO
had to close a center in Martissant,
this time permanently.
The hospital had been operating for 15 years in the heart of this poor neighborhood, where gangs clash fiercely today and has been since June.
Abducted Doctors
The violence of these armed gangs
drastically reduces access to health care for the country's poorest people.
And a number of doctors, already in a largely insufficient number, have left or are considering leaving Haiti since two of their colleagues were kidnapped in March from their clinic.
Several thousand people demonstrated peacefully on Tuesday in Port-au-Prince against crime and Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whose inaction against gangs they denounce.
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