Hurricane Preparedness at St. Boniface Hospital

In late 2022, cholera reemerged in Haiti following three years of no laboratory-confirmed cases. Since then, over 35,000 confirmed and suspected cases have been reported across Haiti’s ten departments. Both a driver and a symptom of Haiti’s ongoing humanitarian crisis, untreated cholera can be deadly in less than a day.

By damaging water and sanitation infrastructure and triggering severe flooding events, tropical storms and hurricanes often lead to a surge of cholera cases. HEI/SBH’s team is readying its cholera response team to prevent and treat outbreaks as hurricane season begins.

2022-23 Cholera Response

Guided by our experience responding to Haiti’s 2010-19 cholera epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, HEI/SBH rolled out a rapid, comprehensive response to the 2022 cholera outbreak. Our team established a new 15-bed treatment center where we provided lifesaving medical treatment to patients in our broader catchment zone. SBH lab technicians partnered with Haiti’s Ministry of Health (MSPP) to conduct rapid cholera tests for health facilities across the region. Amid grave logistical challenges and supply chain shocks, our operations teams sourced critical medications and supplies for SBH and regional health facilities, including antibiotics, oral rehydration salts (ORS), and personal protective equipment (PPE).

Community-Based Prevention

Since October 2022, HEI/SBH has worked alongside MSPP to offer hygiene and disease prevention education sessions to over 25,000 frontline healthcare workers, local leaders, and community members. Community health nurse Witnie Potau is one of the key members of HEI/SBH’s cholera response team, working tirelessly to ensure that local communities have the tools they need to prevent cholera, identify its symptoms, and seek medical care when needed. For Witnie, one of the best ways to prevent the spread of cholera is to have one-on-one conversations. “We talk to people about the disease… so they can better understand what cholera is and how to protect themselves,” she says.

Day by day, community by community, Witnie sees the community health team’s work making an impact. “I am happy to work with the cholera team so that I can help stop the disease from spreading across the entire country,” she says. “We can break the chain of transmission.”

To learn more about HEI/SBH’s infectious disease programs and cholera response efforts, visit this page. Click here to learn more about our disaster relief and preparedness efforts.

Strength in Partnerships

HEI/SBH’s work would not be possible without the support of local and international partners. Leaders from five organizations discussed the ways they are working in partnership to save lives and advance health care in Haiti. Click here to watch the conversation.

Support HEI/SBH

To help ensure HEI/SBH can continue to provide access to high quality, compassionate healthcare in Haiti, no matter what, click the link below or visit this page to donate.

Stay connected with HEI/SBH by joining our email newsletter here. Thank you! 

Health Equity International / St. Boniface Hospital (HEI/SBH) has a four-decade track record of leading lifesaving emergency responses following natural disasters, political unrest, and health crises alike. When disaster strikes, we respond to the need immediately. We deepen our impact by partnering directly with local civil society organizations, government agencies, and international humanitarian organizations. Through each crisis, we invest in strengthening permanent hospital programs and services to better serve patients over the long-term and incorporate lessons learned into our emergency response protocols.

In 2016, Hurricane Matthew devastated southern Haiti, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying the region’s crops and livestock. It also increased cholera cases by 250%. As the primary provider of healthcare in southern Haiti, our team was on the frontlines of the response.

This work saved thousands of lives and expanded the reach of SBH in the region over time: we now serve seven times the patients that we did at the time of the hurricane. It also helped inform our approach to future disaster response efforts, preparing us to better deliver immediate care across Haiti’s southern region during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the 2021 earthquake.

Dr. Marie Miliane Clermont, SBH’s Deputy Director General, reflects on the short- and long-term impact of HEI/SBH’s hurricane response in a recent webinar, which is available to watch here. The case study begins at 23:07.

To help ensure HEI/SBH can continue to provide access to high-quality, compassionate healthcare in Haiti, no matter what, click the link below. Stay connected with HEI/SBH by joining our email newsletter here. Thank you!