Haiti Earthquake Emergency Response

Since then, Merlin has been delivering medical aid to the many thousands of Haitians in great need of health care.

With your support we have been running mobile clinics to reach isolated villages that otherwise have little or no access to basic health care, and in the camps in Port-au-Prince. 

Nearly 90,000 people have been seen by a doctor in a Merlin mobile clinic in 2010.

Merlin's emergency hospital treated over 7,000 
patients and performed nearly 400 operations

Each clinic is seeing around 100 patients every day, including the memorable birth of baby Merline, born on a dried up riverbed and delivered by doctors from a Merlin mobile clinic which happened to be travelling through the area at just the right time.

In a touching gesture, Merline’s mother decided to name her new baby girl after us!

Reviving Haiti’s health system

This year Merlin is looking at the long term health needs in Haiti. With your support we will continue to focus on training more health workers and improving maternal health care.

Working with the Ministry of Health, we plan to move from mobile clinics towards static health centres. Merlin will support in the construction, equipping and staffing of these facilities to create a lasting legacy of health care for local people.

A new crisis

In October a deadly epidemic of cholera broke out in Haiti, claiming the lives of over 3,000 people.

Our teams launched an immediate emergency response and have been working non-stop in an attempt to contain the epidemic, and thanks to your help we have constructed, equipped and staffed four cholera treatment units, six cholera treatment centres, and three oral rehydration points. 

Merlin has trained teams of local people to spread crucial health messages about cholera.  More than 850,000 aqua tabs to purify water have been distributed as well as 18,000 bars of soap to improve hygiene levels inside camps in Port-au-Prince.

A team of Merlin-trained community health workers
prepares to spread the word about the cholera threat

We also have an ambulance on standby seven days a week to refer severe cases to cholera treatment centres for intensive care.

Merlin also dispatched an emergency assessment and response team to the north-eastern cities of Fort Liberté and Ouanaminthe after hearing reports of a sharp increase in patients with cholera symptoms in the area.

We now run four cholera treatment centres in the province – and have treated more than 3,000 cholera patients in just six weeks. 

Islande Jean is a Haitian nurse who normally works in Merlin mobile clinics, and is leaving her three year old daughter in the care of family whilst she is away with the emergency team. 

Despite being worried about the situation in Nord Est, she told us, “We have to go - this is Merlin’s work, it’s what we do.”