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Key Points
- Pregnant women risk losing access to crucial health care in Haiti, the UN warned.
- Gang violence has engulfed he country and the main port remains closed.
- Criminal groups attacked jails and allowed inmates to escape.
“If greater Port-au-Prince remains at a standstill in the coming weeks, almost 3,000 pregnant women could be denied access to essential health care, and almost 450 could face life-threatening obstetric complications if they do not receive medical assistance,” the UN’s office in Haiti said in a statement Friday.
Criminal groups, which already control much of the capital as well as roads leading to the rest of the country, have attacked key infrastructure in recent days, including two prisons, allowing the majority of their 3,800 inmates to escape.
On Thursday, Haiti’s government issued a month-long state of emergency for the western region, which includes the capital, and decreed a nighttime curfew until Monday.
“If we cannot access those containers (full of food), Haiti will go hungry soon,” the NGO Mercy Corps warned in a statement.
A demonstrator holds up an Haitian flag during protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry in Port-au-Princej. Source: AP / Odelyn Joseph
In a press release Friday, the UN also warned that more than 500 sexual violence survivors could be without medical care by the end of March if conditions do not improve.
“Fighting to stop violence against women in Haiti and investing in them is indispensable for ensuring a just, prosperous and peaceful society.”
