Earthquake in Haiti: Red Cross Helps Provide 100,000th Vaccination in Haiti Since the Earthquake
4 March 2010
By Marco Jiménez with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Port-au-Prince Thursday, March 04, 2010 — When the Haitian government decided that it needed to resume vaccination campaigns to help prevent the spread of disease following the January 12 earthquake, the Red Cross was one of the first organizations to respond – making resources available to protect at least 250,000 children and adults from measles, diptheria, pertussis and tetanus. Starting on February 8 with 120 volunteer vaccinators on the ground, including those from Canada, Haiti, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway and the Republic of Korea, the Red Cross and its partners began vaccinating as many as 10,000 in a single day. A great deal of progress has been made since. “One of the people vaccinated today will be the 100,000th of the campaign,” said Dr. Bathélémy Guibert, the director of the municipal health office at Fonds-Verrettes – a municipality in the Croix-des-Bouquets arrondissement in Haiti’s quake zone. These vaccinations are another opportunity for people to survive the tragedy, children above all.” Vaccinations used to be carried out yearly by the health ministry in Haiti, but it was all brought to a halt by January’s devastating earthquake. The hundreds of thousands of displaced people meant vaccination was an urgent priority – one the Haitian health ministry was anxious to get back on the agenda in an effort to prevent disease. Within weeks of the earthquake, the American Red Cross contributed $374,500 to support the health ministry’s emergency campaign and has made a commitment along with its Measles Initiative partners to assist with future efforts as well. Read More >>