UN Agencies Address Maternal Health In Haiti

Two years since the earthquake in Haiti UN Women and UNFPA Haiti have worked to improve conditions for women, who still face rapes and gender-based violence at an alarming rate. To help address this problem for the over 500,000 people still residing in camps, UNFPA Haiti installed 200 street lamps in 40 of the camps near showers, latrines, and water distribution areas last year. UNFPA is also working to address maternal health and the growing pregnancy rate in the wake of the earthquake by building maternity clinics. The fourth clinic is currently being built, although Haiti still needs 84 more clinics to adequately address the health needs of pregnant women. According to UNFPA, “In Haiti, only 25 percent of all deliveries occur in health institutions, and the maternal death rate is 630 mortalities per 100,000 live births, the highest in the Americas.”

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