Haiti: Two years after the earthquake

Tents and makeshift shelters are still part of the landscape in and around Port-au-Prince. Two years after the earthquake, 500,000 people are still living in extremely precarious conditions.

The Médecins Sans Frontières team in Tabarre is in the middle of construction work and will soon see the opening of a new 120-bed hospital. But access to healthcare is still sorely lacking. Already too scarce before the earthquake, facilities are still too distant or too costly for the people living in the slums.

But the population's health and hygiene are still immense. The cholera epidemic that started at the end of October 2010 continues to reap its toll. Patient (in Creole): "When I arrived, they put me on a drip. I couldn't stand up, I couldn't speak. The pain tore me apart. I can talk now and I'm getting my strength back. I feel like new."

During the epidemic, Médecins Sans Frontières treated one third of cholera patients in the country. Its teams continue to treat new cases and to monitor the evolution of the disease in order to be ready in the event of a new peak of cases. In the area affected by the earthquake, the organisation is running four hospitals specialised in emergency surgery.