Protecting the Children of Haiti

Satchit Balsari,Timothy P Williams,Brett D Nelson,Jay Lemery

doi:10.1056/nejmp1001820

Satchit Balsari, Timothy P Williams + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmp1001820

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Abstract

Haiti has long had difficulty in protecting its children from harm. The earthquake that struck the country on January 12 destroyed much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as it killed many government officials and United Nations (UN) workers and left as many as 230,000 people dead and many thousands injured. In the wake of this sweeping disaster, the plight of Haiti's children has acquired new and terrible dimensions. On January 24, we went to Haiti as members of a team sent by the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University to conduct a multisite rapid assessment of . . .

Highlights

The earthquake that struck the country on January 12 destroyed much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as it killed many government officials and United Nations (UN) workers and left as many as 230,000 people dead and many thousands injured
On January 24, we went to Haiti as members of a team sent by the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University to conduct a multisite rapid assessment of child-protection needs in the post-earthquake environment, where it was already evident that children were at grave risk of abandonment, abuse, and trafficking
The focus was on the current systems and practices for identifying and caring for unaccompanied children and for tracing those who had been separated from their families and reuniting them with parents or guardians

Summary

Introduction

On January 24, we went to Haiti as members of a team sent by the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University to conduct a multisite rapid assessment of child-protection needs in the post-earthquake environment, where it was already evident that children were at grave risk of abandonment, abuse, and trafficking. The focus was on the current systems and practices for identifying and caring for unaccompanied children and for tracing those who had been separated from their families and reuniting them with parents or guardians.

Results

Conclusion