International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

The capital city was largely destroyed during a devastating earthquake in January. Maternity hospitals were destroyed, leaving only two remaining functioning maternity centres. According to SHOG (La Société haïtienne d’obstétrique et de gynécologie), it is estimated that more than 47,000 women will be delivering in the next nine months in and around the Port-au-Prince area.  

For the past several years, FIGO has been supporting the Saving Mothers and Newborns Project in Haiti to help respond to the needs of pregnant women and their newborns. The support provided by the FIGO project has allowed for a maternity unit to be established within the Croix-des-Bouquets Health Center, located in a suburb of Port-au-Prince. This maternity unit is now urgently being converted into a maternity hospital.  

This appeal for funding is in an effort to support the maternity hospital in Croix-des-Bouquets, which is situated approximately ten kilometers from the epicenter of the quake. The maternity centre’s physical structure withstood the effects of the quake. The Saving Mothers and Newborns Initiative, through the support of FIGO and the SOGC, was in the process of upgrading the maternity unit to the level of a hospital unit able to provide services for normal and complicated deliveries, including cesarean section. There is now an urgent need to complete the transformation of the maternity unit and to offer, as soon as possible, emergency cesarean section, as well as follow-up and delivery of obstetrical care to the women of that district. It is anticipated that there are approximately 10,000 pregnant women to currently take care of in that district alone.