Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Port au Prince (Agenzia Fides) - After one and a half years since the terrible earthquake that devastated Haiti, women and girls of the island are still heavily exposed to maternal and child deaths due to lack of access to appropriate and necessary health services. According to a report carried out by Human Rights Watch (HRW), there is lack of basic information about the place where you can have free health care on the island. Some people do not even have a dollar to pay for transport to hospital and others fear leaving their fields unattended to go and get treatment. The report "Nobody Remembers Us: Failure to Protect Women's and Girls' Right to Health and Security in Post-Earthquake Haiti", highlights the severe insecurity which women of the country are subjected to due to lack of access to health reproductive and maternal treatment, triggered immediately after the catastrophe.
Many women give birth on the floor, in the mud, others prostitute themselves for food. Despite the efforts on behalf of humanitarian organizations, there are still many women who have not received any assistance because of the lack of information, precarious transport and insurmountable costs of services. After the earthquake there has been a serious increase in the risk of women being raped. The problem is even more severe in refugee camps, where there is a high incidence of sexual violence. According to the HRW report, the government should do more to protect them from such violence and ensure that they receive appropriate information. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 02/09/2011)
