HAITI: THE GRACE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL IS INUNDATED WITH NEW ORPHANED AND ABANDONED CHILDREN

Record ID: 174635

  • Title: HAITI: THE GRACE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL IS INUNDATED WITH NEW ORPHANED AND ABANDONED CHILDREN
  • Date: 18th August 1994
  • Summary: PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI (AUGUST 18, 1994) 1. GV EXTERIOR GRACE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, CU SIGN (2 SHOTS) 0.06 2. GV GROUP OF WOMEN OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL 0.09 3. GV INTERIOR HOSPITAL CHILDREN EATING AT TABLE 0.12 4. GV WOMEN PREPARING FOOD 0.16 5. CU YOUNG CHILDREN SAT AT TABLE (2 SHOTS) 0.23 6. MCU CHILD IN CRIB SUFFERING FROM
  • Embargoed: 2nd September 1994 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
  • City:
  • Country: Haiti CARIBBEAN
  • Reuters ID: LVAF5FE1ET4HWX1VRANOEH7V7S8
  • Story Text: The effects of three years of embargoes on Haiti pushed one of the nation's smallest relief facilities to near breaking-point on Thursday (August 18).

    The Grace Children's hospital in the capital Port au Prince cares for orphaned or abandoned children, and has been inundated with youngsters. Over the last six months, an average of two to three children per week have been abandoned there.

    Doctor Marie Lubin Francisque, director of the hospital, said parents have abandoned their children outside the building in desperation, hoping they would be cared for.

    Francisque said all the children being treated in the hospital suffered from malnutrition and tuberculosis. She added that in 1992 she saw 851 cases of chronically ill children, but after a further United States (U.S.)-led embargo was imposed in 1993, the number of cases jumped to 1043.

    The infant mortality rate also increased from 16.2 percent in 1992 to almost 20 percent in 1993.

    The doctor said the majority of children arrive at the hospital too late for treatment and were beyond hope. Most parents were unable to afford transportation to the hospital.

    Francisque said 90 percent of the population in Haiti is now unemployed, making it difficult to afford medicine and nescessary laboratory tests. Before the embargo, 60 percent of Haiti's population was employed.


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