During the cholera outbreak, Haiti and its partners in health developed innovative health initiatives that are now being repurposed to tackle COVID-19.
One of these was a testing initiative designed to ensure safe and reliable sampling and transportation of suspected cholera specimens to laboratories. This initiative has now been revamped to help carry out sampling of COVID-19 cases in hard-to-reach areas and transportation of specimens to laboratories.
Also as part of the COVID-19 response, PAHO provided training for 2,700 community health agents and 162 community health nurses and nurse auxiliaries on how to detect COVID-19 symptoms, to prevent and educate their communities.
PAHO has also supported local authorities to set up COVID-19 border surveillance, assuring detection and testing of suspected cases.
Community health workers have been equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE), including gloves, face masks and hand sanitizer.
PAHO’s support for Haiti during the COVID-19 pandemic focuses on surveillance, laboratory improvements and case management.
PAHO staff have conducted meetings with community leaders including voodoo priests, catholic priests, pastors, and traditional birth attendants to provide them with accurate information and effective communication messages about COVID-19.
In February, PAHO provided Haiti’s National Laboratory with training and equipment for diagnosis of COVID-19, including kits to collect samples and reagents to conduct 9,000 PCR tests.
This help allows Haiti to scale up testing and to reach remote communities and those who believe in traditional medicine.
To ensure that essential non-COVID health services are not forgotten, PAHO also trained 107 providers of prenatal, infant and postnatal care on infection prevention and control measures during the pandemic.
-
Sampling -
Laboratory testing -
Training
The Region of the Americas has unfortunately become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, with cases increasing in nearly every country. At PAHO, we continue to place our highest priority on protecting the most vulnerable.
PAHO has stood by Haiti through many health challenges and will continue to do so into the future. It is a moral mandate that we honor across the entire organization under the principle of “leaving no one behind.”