(2022-09) Haiti: Violence Against Health Workers and Obstruction of Access to Care 2021
Summary — Haiti country factsheet from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition's 2021 report on violence against health care, compiled by Insecurity Insight. The SHCC recorded fifteen incidents of violence against health workers or obstruction of health care in Haiti in 2021, up from six in 2020, all attributed to gang-affiliated armed groups; at least eight health workers were kidnapped, most for ransom, with over half of incidents concentrated in Martissant, Port-au-Prince.
Key Findings
- Fifteen incidents of violence against health workers or obstruction of health care were reported in Haiti in 2021, up from six in 2020, all attributed to gang-affiliated armed groups.
- Kidnappings of health workers doubled from four in 2020 to eight in 2021, all in Ouest department, mostly doctors abducted for ransom and generally released within one to four days.
- More than half of the incidents occurred in Martissant, Port-au-Prince, where MSF was forced to close a hospital in June 2021 after gangs attacked doctors and patients.
- In Acul-du-Nord, gang members shot at thirteen ambulances parked outside a hospital and set the facility on fire in November 2021.
- Patient deaths were directly linked to health worker kidnappings, including a mother and baby who died after an obstetric surgeon was abducted en route to an emergency caesarean.
Full Description
This French-language factsheet presents the Haiti data from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition's annual report on violence against health care in 2021, based on the 2021 SHCC Haiti Health Data compiled by Insecurity Insight and available on the Humanitarian Data Exchange. Fifteen incidents of violence against health workers or obstruction of health care were reported in 2021, compared with six in 2020, all attributed to gang-affiliated non-state armed groups equipped with firearms. Kidnappings of health workers doubled from four in 2020 to eight in 2021; all victims were taken individually in the Ouest department, outside hospitals, at home or while commuting, most were doctors, some worked for NGOs, two were shot and injured while resisting, and most were freed within one to four days, in at least one case after a ransom payment. More than half the incidents occurred in Martissant, Port-au-Prince, where gang violence against health care was highest, forcing MSF to close a hospital there in June; other incidents occurred in Bois Verna, Pétion-Ville, Tabarre, Croix-des-Bouquets, Acul-du-Nord (where gang members shot at thirteen ambulances and set a hospital on fire) and Verrettes in the Artibonite. The factsheet places the violence in the context of the political vacuum following President Jovenel Moïse's July 2021 assassination and the dominance of gangs such as G9, Ti Lapli's Grand Ravine group and 400 Mawozo. It documents system-level effects: MSF described the health system as on the verge of collapse; patient deaths were directly linked to kidnapped surgeons, including a mother and baby who died after an obstetric surgeon was abducted en route to an emergency caesarean; and more than 19 000 people displaced from Port-au-Prince faced disease risks in overcrowded sites.
Notes
annual violence-against-healthcare report