sitrep 1 may 2012

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UNICEF Haiti Quarterly Report: January-March 2012

HEADLINES

Situation Update Political: With President Martelly recently hospitalized in the United States for

surgery on a pulmonary embolism, Haiti experienced a political void resulting from the failure to appoint a new Prime Minister since the resignation of Gary Conille in February.

Cholera: With the rainy season underway, there has been an increase in the number of cholera cases. As of early April, the total number of people who contracted cholera since October 2010 was 534,647, of which 7,091 have died.

Displacement: According to the IOM, despite a gradual decrease in the camp population from 1.5 million in 2010, almost 500,000 Haitians still live in 660 displacement camps around Port-au-Prince.

Emergency preparedness: A series of evaluations conducted by UNICEF and partners reveal that there are still high zones of vulnerability in areas with lower access to services. 85 per cent of contingency stock in support of the RRM has already been pre-positioned.

UNICEF Programme Updates Education: Along with other major education actors, UNICEF is working to

support the free and compulsory education programme (PSUGO) initiated by President Martelly. According to the Government, 903,000 children are receiving free education through this programme.

WASH: UNICEF continues to promote the Community Led Total Sanitation approach to end the practice of open defecation and decrease morbidity rates in a total of 121 rural communities since 2011.

Child Protection: To date, UNICEF has assisted the national child protection body IBESR in the registration of 16,000 children in residential care centres as well as the evaluation of 351 centres, an exercise which will help the Government conduct better quality control and regulation.

Week of Intensive Child Health Activities: UNICEF is making preparations for a Week of Intensive Child Health Activities in April, which will serve as the official launching for the 1st World Vaccination Week and aims to reach 100 per cent of children with polio vaccination.

One Team Against Cholera: Along with the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, UNICEF and other key partners have launched a call to action to accelerate the elimination of cholera on the island of Hispanola.

Cholera Cases

534,647

Impact on Children

One in Eight

patients is a child under-five (12%)

Displacement

490,545 people in camps

(5% decrease)

IDPs/commune

Forced Eviction

94,632 people in camps

threatened with eviction

One in Five

Delmas 21%

Port-au-Prince 21%

Carrefour 13%

Tabarre 9%

Petion-Ville 8%

Leogane 6%

Other 22%

Source: MSPP, IOM, OCHA

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HUMANITARIAN UPDATE

Slight Change in the Number of IDPs According to the latest IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) report, the total number of vulnerable individuals living in camps is now less than 500,000. The population living in camps decreased from 515,961 in January 2012 to 490,545 individuals (or 120,791 IDP households) in 660 IDP sites in earthquake affected areas in February, a 5 per cent decrease. Since the beginning of the displacement crisis, the majority of the displaced population, about 60 per cent (72,152 households) has resided in 52 of the larger sites of over 500 households. These 52 sites represent only 8 per cent of all sites confirming the trend already observed in previous reports of increased concentration in large camps.

Forced evictions Since the emergence of camps in January 2010, there have been 396 IDP sites in 12 communes that have faced threats of eviction. A total of 10 camps were evicted during the last two months, affecting 1,395 people. Approximately 94,632 individuals are currently living under threat of eviction, representing almost 20 per cent of all people currently living in the camps in Haiti. The UN continues to promote a voluntary and dignified return for displaced persons and to coordinate interventions in return areas.

Resurgence of Cholera with the Start of the Rainy Season As of early April, the total number of reported cholera cases since October 2010 was 534,647. Overall, data from health facilities indicate that 7,091 people have died (case fatality rate of 1.3 per cent). An increase in the number of new cholera cases was reported in Artibonite, North-West and West Departments, confirming predictions of higher incidence of the disease with the early arrival of the rainy season in February. Since last June, which saw peaks of

more than 1,000 cases on certain days, the epidemiological trend had been steadily

declining in all ten departments. In March, the

Ministry of Health (MSPP) recorded 77 daily new cases for the whole country.

Political Situation The political situation in Haiti remains volatile. On 24 February, Haiti’s Prime Minister, Gary Conille, resigned after weeks of mounting tension with President Michel Martelly and his cabinet. Gary Conille, who served as Prime Minister for only four months, was Mr. Martelly’s third choice and the only one who met with approval from a Parliament dominated by political opposition. The Prime Minister-designate, Laurent Lamothe, is currently the subject of a Senate commission investigating allegations that he holds dual nationality. The political environment is also complicated by recent allegations of corruption against a Dominican senator whose companies won millions of dollars in construction contracts in post-earthquake Haiti after allegedly making contributions to President Martelly’s campaign. The turbulent political situation has the potential to delay programme implementation.

Security UN staff members continue to face a range of security threats due to the challenging environment. The overall statistics for serious crime show an increase. There has only been one case of kidnapping affecting international UN staff though the threat posed to the families of national staff members remains high. Over the last months, the emergence of paramilitary groups, coupled with an on-going campaign to reinstitute the Haitian Armed Forces (FADH) and the unopposed occupation of former military facilities, have been of concern. The total number of these so-called ex-FADH members is estimated at about 3,500.

Emergency preparedness During the reporting period, UNICEF and partners conducted evaluations in eight departments to assess zones of vulnerability to risks and natural hazards. Results indicated high levels of vulnerability in zones with lower access to services, particularly in the South and Grande-Anse Departments. This mapping exercise has underlined the need to pre-position stock to facilitate emergency response and highlighted the importance of working collaboratively with local authorities and the community to prepare an emergency response. The pre-positioning of essential supplies in the event of an emergency by UNICEF’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) partners in the South, South-East, Atribonite and North Departments is almost 85 per cent finalised.

UNICEF Haiti Quarterly Report: January-March 2012 2

As of February:

490,545 people are living in camps

94,632 people are threatened with eviction

660 registered camps

396 camps under threat of forced eviction

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UNICEF IN HAITI: 15th — 27th MAY 2010

Education

Ensuring quality education Since the beginning of the academic school year in October 2011, the education sector in Haiti has witnessed an unprecedented increase in enrollment through the free and compulsory education programme (PSUGO) initiated by President Martelly. According to the Government, 903,000 children are currently benefiting from the free education programme, including many children who have been out of school for years, or have never been to school.

To support the free and compulsory education programme, UNICEF distributed age-appropriate material, including school bags, notebooks and pens, to some 750,000 children throughout the country. A nationwide monitoring exercise undertaken by UNICEF covering 136 schools in all departments indicated a high satisfaction rate (above 80 per cent) among teachers, school directors and children. To address the problem of the high prevalence of over-age children both in and out of school, on 14 March UNICEF supported a national workshop involving 60 stakeholders

to engage in a policy dialogue on integration of over-age out-of-school children and improvement of

the accelerated programme, provided by the

Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) to cover the entire primary education curriculum in three to four years.

Systems and local governance UNICEF continues to work towards strengthening decentralization of the education system and education officials at the local level in planning, monitoring, analysis and evaluation through micro-planning. On 28-29 February, 99 inspectors and officials in the South and North Departments received training on planning in education and statistics and collected data in over 2,300 schools.

Early Childhood Development UNICEF launched the initiative “The Power of Play” with the support of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and Disney, which aims to integrate an innovative, soft-toy playgrounds in ten schools and provide specialized training for teachers and Ministry of Education officials. The project recognizes the importance of play in the physical, psychosocial, emotional development of children, particularly in crisis and post-crisis settings such as Haiti and will gather evidence for the potential scale up of the project in Haiti and other countries.

Education Cluster As part of the transition plan for the Education Cluster, a disaster risk management unit was set up in March within the Ministry of Education, owing to consistent advocacy by UNICEF. This marks a significant step towards strengthening the national capacity to prevent, prepare and respond to emergencies and to coordinate external actors. The Education Cluster is also working with IOM for advocacy on the exit of displaced or vulnerable persons occupying 18 national schools.

Challenges and Looking Forward Despite the strong demand for education and the very positive impact of the newly-launched initiative to abolish school fees, tremendous challenges such as the poor quality of education, internal inefficiency, the very low number of qualified teachers, uneven distribution of education provisions, and the high percentage of over-aged children still need to be addressed by the Haitian education system. A continuing challenge involves the children in camps who are still not attending school two years after the earthquake. Although assessments indicate that approximately 81 per cent of displaced children have resumed their education, this still means that a significant absolute number of children in the metropolitan Port-au-


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11 year old Naika Civil and Lucien Schnaider pose for a photo at the national school in Tabarre, Port au Prince. Both Naika and Lucien couldn't go to school for two years due to the fact that their parents couldn't afford it. This year they are two of many beneficiaries of the new Haitian Government initiative for a free education.

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Prince are not fulfilling their right to education and are becoming increasingly vulnerable. To protect schools with insufficient infrastructure from the imminent rainy, cyclone season, more than 100 schools will benefit from the distribution of temporary learning space tents. In May, UNICEF will begin the construction of 16 permanent schools, in partnership with the Government of Belgium, the Ministry of Education, local education officials and communities themselves. Considering the challenges of construction in remote areas during the rainy season, this project will require strong oversight, dedicated logistics and coordination – and a flexible problem-solving approach to remain on schedule.

Child Protection

Social and legal protection To strengthen national systems that regulate and manage the process of inter-country adoption, UNICEF provided technical assistance to the Government-led technical group that is revising current adoption legislation. A proposal for amendments that will afford children a greater level of protection was finalized by the group on 2 March 2012. UNICEF is also providing technical support to strengthen IBESR, the national child protection agency. During the reporting period, UNICEF provided financial and technical assistance to the process of documenting all children in residential care to facilitate their family tracing and reunification. To date, 16,000 children have been registered and 3,516 children have been reunified with their families. UNICEF has also supported IBESR to register and evaluate all residential care centres and the first ever directory listing all residential care centres as well as their condition is now being used by partners in the sector. To date, 720 residential care centres have been identified, and 351 centres evaluated (an increase from 336 at the end of 2011). UNICEF has also provided technical and financial support to IBESR in the delicate task of closing centres where children are abused and neglected. In January IBESR, together with the child sensitive police BPM, closed three centres and placed the children in temporary care facilities where they received medical and psycho-social care.

With UNICEF support, a technical group was formed within the Ministry of Justice to review

the cases of children in detention for suitability for a presidential pardon

because of prolonged pre-trial detention. Currently, 80 per cent of the 350 children in detention in Haiti are held under pre-trial measures. Since January 2012, UNICEF distributed 500 education kits to 18 prisons – most of the kits were transferred to CERMICOL, the boys’ prison in Port au Prince where at least 118 boys are detained, 101 of them under pre-trial detention. Together with Office of for the Protection of Citizens (OPC), UNICEF conducted monitoring visits to two main children’s prisons in Port-au-Prince, the BPM child detention space, and residential care centres to check conditions, resulting in the release of 25 children from prison. With UNICEF support, police officers from the Child Protection Brigade from five departments worked at the four main borders points and more than 20 police stations on cases of children in contact with the law, as well as cases of children travelling from Haiti to the Dominican Republic and vice versa. In total, 200 cases were seen by the police officers; out of these, 20 were alleged cases of trafficking at Belladere and 28 were rape cases.

Community Based Protection With assistance from UNICEF, the NGO Project Concern International (PCI) is implementing a project assessing community needs and available resources in four neighborhoods in Port au Prince to promote community-based protection strategies targeting150,000 children. PCI is now supporting the creation of four Child Protection Committees and partnership with local institutions to improve protection services, increase referrals, and increase the “uptake” of services by


A child sits on her bed at the interim care centre L'escale, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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children in the community. UNICEF’s support to PCI and the formation of Child Protection Committees (which are comprised of community volunteers trained to identify, refer and care for vulnerable children), is an example of the transition of community-based child protection services from camps to communities. In partnership with UNICEF, the NGO Bibliothèques sans Frontières is producing 300 mobile libraries (“boite a histoires”) containing 100 children’s books, educational materiel and a guide in French and Creole on animation techniques to promote reading for children ages 8 to 17 years. From 26 March to 5 April, 30 women worked to assemble the kits at the UNICEF warehouse or distribution to UNICEF partners working with children in residential care centres, community centers, Child Friendly Spaces, community libraries and drop in centres for children on the streets. These activities are integrated into overall efforts to improve the quality of therapeutic and educative services in Child Friendly Spaces, supported by the US Fund for UNICEF and the Charles Egelheart Foundation.

Challenges and Looking Forward UNICEF is planning for the Coordinator for the Inter-Agency Database for Separated Children to visit Haiti at the end of April to provide technical assistance to IBESR on how to expand the database to serve as a case management tool for child protection actors, including

IBESR and BPM. The situation for separated children remains concerning in Haiti, with some 1.2

million Haitian children estimated to be

generally vulnerable to multiple forms of violence and abuse, including physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence, armed and sexual violence even before the earthquake. Gender-based violence also remains a concern throughout the country, without bias to location or social standing. With funding from the Central Emergency Response Fund, UNICEF will work together with IOM and UNHCR on the prevention, response, and monitoring gender based violence (GBV) specifically within the remaining camps in Port au Prince. UNICEF will work in partnership with the NGO SOFA to reinforce the capacities of community based organizations to orient GBV survivors to available services, and with the BPM to monitor the situation relating to GBV against minors and women in the camps.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Sanitation and Water Supply

Further to the activation of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach, which aims to have communities adopt community-led sanitation approaches and discontinue the practice of open-air defecation, the UNICEF-supported local NGO SUCO has confirmed that 1,636 latrines have been built in the 25 communities targeted by the project. A total of 121 communities have been targeted with the CLTS approach in 2011 and 2012. CLTS will allow communities to not only be free of open defecation, but also will decrease morbidity rates by preventing diarrhoea and other water-related diseases, protect the environment, improve hygiene practices and improve social cohesion. A partnership between UNICEF and NGO InterAide to increase access to potable water and sanitation and good hygiene promotion practices in communes in Petite Rivière in Artibonite and Boucan-Carré was advanced by the signature of 154 contracts which will allow for the construction of 1,788 family latrines reaching 8,822 men, women and children, and provide 1,535 people with access to four water sources. In partnership with PLAN International, in 60 communities in in South-East and North-East Departments, ten community leaders were trained in the implementation of CLTS. In 30 of the communities, a community assessment has already been conducted and in 13 communities, latrine construction has begun to ultimately benefit 3,500 people.


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3 year old Michel [name changed] cries at the UNICEF supported Soeurs Saint-Jean center in the northern city of Ouanaminthe. The center provides temporary care for trafficking child victims.

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Hygiene Promotion and WASH in Schools

The National Alliance for WASH in Schools was officially launched on 20 March 2012 by the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) in partnership with DINEPA and UNICEF. The Alliance will conduct an assessment of the situation in schools and develop guidelines and national standards. The steering committee consists of the Ministry of Health (MSPP), PAHO/WHO, WFP, UNESCO, Save the Children, Plan Haiti, FONHEP, Oxfam Québec and Caritas Switzerland. With UNICEF support, the NGO Plan International conducted a Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) study in 60 communities and schools in the South-East and North-East Departments and established hygiene committees in the targeted schools, training 480 teachers who in turn will train 18,140 students.

Emergency WASH

In displaced person return zones in Port au

Prince, UNICEF in partnership with IOM has installed a total of 1,257 household toilets and 10 community toilets, and repaired 45 toilets (90 per cent of the target). Some 1,400 people have been trained on the construction of toilets and 23,000 people have benefitted from hygiene promotion sessions. With UNICEF support, NGO SIF is working in the reconstruction of systems for the distribution of potable water in five camps and in return zones in Carrefour, Petionville and Port au Prince, providing 12,670 people with safe drinking water. 11,085 people in 11 sites benefitted from the rehabilitation of drainage canals, as well as the de-sludging of 103 chemical latrines. In January, with UNICEF support, SIF distributed hygiene kits to a total of 5,158 families, reaching a total of 25,790 men, women and children. Between January and February, UNICEF ensured de-sludging services in 100 sites in the Port au Prince metropolitan area. Between March and October 2012, UNICEF will use funds from CERF to cover some 359 sites, benefitting 400,000 people. This massive de-sludging service will be operated by a private sector company whose performance will be monitored by UNICEF and DINEPA.

WASH Cluster Since the end of 2011, the WASH Cluster Coordination Unit has continued to empower DINEPA in humanitarian emergency coordination and effective information management, including support to develop WASH Contingency Departmental Plans in five departments and defining a contingency plan for the West Department in March 2012. The WASH Cluster has also provided advocacy and planning support for the establishment of the newly created “Emergency Response Department” in DINEPA. The WASH Cluster has also worked to reinforce information management capacities (data collection, analysis and reporting) for emergency and development response in DINEPA’s National Observatory, and has supported coordination of cholera response activities.

Challenges and Looking Forward Challenges in the WASH sector remain daunting. In March, the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme issued its 2012 report with water and sanitation coverage estimates for Haiti which confirm a dire situation for millions. While the JMP analysis of available household survey data indicates that in 2012 access to an improved water source is higher than previously reported -- at 69 per cent nationally -- the use of improved sanitation facilities is


World Water Day On 22 March, DINEPA celebrated World Water Day under the theme “Water is Food Security.” This day provided an opportunity to lead activities raising awareness, including publications, documentaries, roundtable discussions, semi-nars and expositions.

On 23 March, UNICEF Country Representative Francoise Gruloos launched the 2012 State of the World’s Children report, which focuses on children in urban areas, during a visit to the slum Cité l'Eternel, where UNICEF partner GRET and local committees are improving water supply in kiosks and conduct management training. UNICEF and GRET are working together in 53 disadvantaged zones in Port-au-Prince to improve water supply and access to water for approximately 800,000 people.

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still a low 17 per cent, representing a total of 8.3 million people without even basic sanitation. In rural areas the sanitation coverage drops to an abysmal 10 per cent, with one out of two persons practicing open defecation. In April, a workshop on the official launch of hygiene promotion tools for schools will be held with actors and beneficiaries in April in Cap-Haitien. A field survey on WASH in schools will be conducted in the West, North, Artibonite and South Departments in April as well. A study on WASH in schools is currently being conducted by the Office on Haitian Studies (BRIDES), which works jointly with the Ministry of Education (MENFP). The survey will analyse the situation of WASH facilities in 300 sampled schools from four departments and provide valuable information to establish a national baseline and permit the measure of progress as well as the development of more effective interventions for Haitian schoolchildren. In addition, a new WASH project in 42 schools in the North and the North-East Departments was started on 15 March, building upon the WASH facilities installed or in the process of installation in 228 schools since 2010.

Health

Neonatal and Maternal Health

During February and March, UNICEF conducted joint missions with the Directorate

of Family in four departments to evaluate technical levels in eight maternity wards and hospitals to identify gaps and improve the quality of maternal and neonatal treatment. This will permit the purchase of additional medical equipment needed to enhance the capacity of facilities to provide maternal and newborn care upon finalisation in April. With UNICEF support, a methodology for a study on the causes of neonatal deaths in Haiti was finalised. The study, which will be conducted by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the University Hospital of Haiti, will measure why, when and where births take place, with the aim of better understanding the causes of death in newborn infants, including lack of access to care and little knowledge of families on danger signs in newborns ,to enable more accurate preventive responses to addressing and minimising neonatal death. Together with UNFPA and WHO, UNICEF has finalised an integrated communication plan for reproductive health with Nippes Department to use peer education as the main behaviour change strategy, supported by advocacy and social mobilization activities with 300 women leaders of associations in ten communes over a period of 6 months beginning in April.

HIV/AIDS

UNICEF supported the identification of 12 new sites for Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission (PMTCT) services as well as 15 new sites for pediatric HIV care for the extension of services to six priority departments. These sites will then be evaluated to determine whether they have the capacity to provide PMTCT services. UNICEF is also collaborating with WHO to prepare a bi-national workshop (Haïti-Domincan Republic) to support national initiatives for the elimination of PMTCT and congenital syphilis in border areas.

Cholera prevention and treatment UNICEF continues to support the Government to expand cholera prevention services in marginalized urban slums and under-serviced departments. UNICEF conducted a mission to the North and North-East Departments to supervise the status of the joint project to reduce case fatalities through expansion of services with the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) and the Ministry of Health (MSSP). UNICEF is also regularly monitoring epidemiological data on cholera to ensure that UNICEF interventions are in line with epidemic trends in the country.


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Students exit the restroom at the Vision Nouvelle School. The new building of Vision Nouvelle School, one of the only 10 schools across Haiti offering music classes to its students, was rebuilt by UNICEF.

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Immunisation

UNICEF continues to support efforts to procure vaccines for the Expanded Immunisation Programme (EPI), help structure the cold chain and train health professionals in immunisation activities that meet technical standards for vaccines. UNICEF is scaling up its successful “Reach Every District,” approach, which focuses on improving immunisation coverage by concentrating attention on the world performing communes and district level health care facilities, from 36 communes in 2011 to 70 out of the 140 communes in the country. An evaluation of the RED approach conducted in the 36 communes with weak coverage in 2011 shows a significant improvement in vaccination coverage. With national coverage surpassing 80 per cent for the first time in 20 years, the analysis shows that the RED approach has significantly contributed to these results. A total of 30 solar refrigerators were also

installed between January and March as part of efforts to reinforce the cold chain by replacing

gas powered refrigerators with solar energy.

Challenges and Looking Forward The Ministry of Health’s capacity to mobilise and provide leadership to communication partners in planning and monitoring is weak, with the result that available human and technical resources are often not used efficiently, and the implementation of activities are consistently delayed. In the upcoming months, with UNICEF support, the Ministry of Health aims to launch the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) initiative, a cost-effective method of care of pre-term infants that aims to reduce morbidity and mortality, provide opportunities for teaching during post-natal follow-up visits, and decrease hospital-associated costs. UNICEF will continue to support the Ministry of Health in efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Over 90 per cent of infants and young children infected with HIV acquire the virus through transmission from their HIV positive mother. With UNICEF support, workshops on micro planning at the department level for the plan to scale up of PMTCT in ten departments have been planned, and an evaluation of the new sites identified for PMCTC and pediatric HIV care will begin in April. UNICEF also provided technical assistance for a gap analysis to prepare an estimate of needs for PMTCT products such as anti-retroviral treatment and laboratory items to prepare for cessation of funding by UNITAID in December 2012.

Nutrition

Prevention and Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition In January 2012, over 1,200 severely malnourished children were admitted in Outpatient Treatment Centres (PTA) and 237 severely malnourished children with medical complications were admitted in Stabilisation centres (USN). Over 84 per cent of the children admitted to PTAs were discharged and a death rate of less than 0.5 per cent was registered. UNICEF continues to provide 75 per cent of financial and technical support for therapeutic feeding programmes and stabilization centres in the country. In January, 70,869 children and mothers were enrolled in the PCNB (Baby-Friendly Corners) programme and received Infant and Young Child feeding services. There are currently 198 PCNBs in country, all supported by UNICEF.


ONE TEAM AGAINST CHOLERA In January 2012, the Governments of Haiti and the Domin-ican Republic, together with the Pan American Health Or-ganization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, and other key partners, launched a One Team against Cholera – A Call to Action for Accelerating the Elimination of Cholera in Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Island of Hispaniola) urging the following actions: •Solidifying water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure as a priority for governments and the international communi-ty; •Better supporting the Ministry of Health and Department of Water & Sanitation to be on the driving seat and to strongly coordinate between each other; and •Mobilising new funds and leverage existing funds in order to invest together in the most transformative of projects. This key collaboration follows an inter-country, inter-agency and multi-sectoral model employed to combat cholera in Latin America in the 1990s. An Inter-American Development Bank analysis before the outbreak identified $805 million in investment needs for the water and sanita-tion sector during 2011-2015. The Office of the Haitian Prime Minister estimated that $919 million would be need-ed for water and sanitation infrastructure recovery, post-earthquake. Recognising the extraordinary efforts required to arrest and definitively eliminate the outbreak UNICEF continues to fully support this initiative.

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In March, a national anthropometric survey was conducted using the SMART methodology, an improved method to rapidly assess the nutritional status of children under five years of age. Results, which will be available end of April, will help to provide a real picture of child malnutrition rates in Haiti and assess current needs and prioritise resources. UNICEF continued to work with partners to enhance their technical capacity to manage community based Infant and Young Child feeding (IYCF) and Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM). Furthermore, in February, around 40 staff from the Ministry of Health (MSPP), including epidemiologists and statisticians, were trained on the SMART methodology in an effort to provide the country with professionals able to conduct SMART surveys in the future.

Challenges and Looking Forward There continues to be a dearth of trained nutrition personnel in the Ministry of Health, due to under-funding of the sector and high turnover rates of staff from the Ministry at the department level, primarily nurses. UNICEF’s programme, supported by the European Commission (ECHO), to increase technical capacity at both national and departmental levels, experienced setbacks due to political transition processes in country. Now however, with the appointment of a national level focal point for recruitment within the Ministry of Health, UNICEF can quickly move forward to support the Ministry’s recruitment

of six nutrition staff at the national level and 20 at the decentralized level.


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Jeanne Baptiste Rodelin calls for her mother while she has her weight measured at the Community Clinic of Canape Verte in Port au Prince.

Week of Intensive Child Health Activities in Haiti

21–28 April 2012 Under the leadership of the Minister of Health and Popula-tion, Haiti has decided to organize a full week of intensive child health activities. During this week, an integrated pack-age including vaccines, vitamin A and de-worming will be delivered to young children and women, as appropriate, throughout the country from 21-28 April 2012. This year’s event has a particular importance. It combines, for the first time, three major activities, which in the past were undertaken separately (child health week, immuniza-tion campaign and America’s vaccination week) and will serve as the official launching for the 1st World Vaccination Week globally. The objectives of the week are to reach: (i) 95 per cent of children 9 months to 9 years (2,323,691) with measles and rubella antigens (first round); (ii) 100 per cent of children 0-9 years (2,519,685) with polio vaccine (first and second round); (iii) 95 per cent of children 6-59 months (1,199,257) with vitamin A supplements (first round); (iv) 95 per cent of children 2-9 years (2,041,659) with de-worming (first round) and 100 per cent of women 15-49 years with Diph-theria and Tetanus Toxoids vaccine (second round). The Ministry of Health is supported in this effort by UNICEF, PAHO/WHO, IDB, CDC, Brazil, Cuba, Lions Club and CitiBank with a total cost of US$ 12,522,400.

A health worker administers a polio vaccination to a toddler at the UNICEF partner FONDEFH (Foundation pour le Developpment de la Famille Haitienne) clinic in the Port au Prince neighborhood of Canape Vert.

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Cross Cutting Priorities

Communication for Development To promote parental education and integrated key family practices, UNICEF has completed the Creole translation of the Facts for Life booklet and is engaged in technical discussions with two NGOs to develop a radio series on its contents. The booklet provides vital messages and information for mothers, fathers other families and caregivers and communities that can save and protect the lives of children. As a corollary, UNICEF is collaborating with the NGO CEIS to develop six training modules on safe motherhood, breastfeeding, child protection against abuse and violence, early childhood development and hygiene for use by community mobilisers and agents.

Youth and adolescents

In January, 239 adolescents and youths from Artibonite, Center, South, Grande Anse and Nippes Departments participated in two youth fora organized in Verrettes (Artibonite) and Camp Perrin (South). At the fora, youth were able to provide recommendations based on priorities they had identified for the reconstruction of Haiti. Supported by UNICEF and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Civic Action, these discussions constituted the final round of a series of four fora on the use of multimedia and traditional media to express opinions before a large public, and involved a total of 407 youth from all ten departments. UNICEF collaborated with the NGO Konesans Fanmi and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Civic Action to support the deployment of 28 youth animation groups from three departments to 28 communities to provide important messaging on hygiene, risk reduction and disasters, prevention of STIs and HIV.

Challenges and Looking Forward UNICEF is working with partners on a media campaign on cholera prevention, which received clearance in March by the Ministry of Health (MSPP). Production will cover four mini spots, seven serialised radio spots and six television spots in addition to 50 billboards to be sited in major cities in all ten departments around the country. UNICEF will support the training of local networks in communication for emergency preparation and response.

Monitoring Results UNICEF has continued providing key technical support to

the Haiti Survey on Mortality, Morbidity and Utilization of Services (EMMUS-V), which is part of the

USAID-supported Demographic and Health

Surveys (DHS) and integrates the majority of the questionnaires of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). The results of the survey will allow to better monitor progress toward national goals and global commitments, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the target year 2015 approaches. UNICEF has also begun working with the Government on the implementation of DevInfo in Haiti, building on the HaitiInfo Database developed by the National Statistical Office in 2009. DevInfo is a database system for monitoring human development indicators that provides methods to organize, store and display data in a uniform way to facilitate data sharing and dissemination. While awaiting the finalization of several national surveys that will provide key new data to be disseminated through a DevInfo platform, UNICEF has started working with DINEPA and the Ministry of Education to adapt DevInfo to establish sectoral databases.

Situation Analysis of Women and Children in Haiti UNICEF Haiti is currently updating the Situation Analysis, which was last conducted in 2001. The 2012 Haiti SitAn reflects the latest guidelines to ensure that a rights-based, equity-focused analyses are integrated, to inform the elaboration of the new country programme 2013-2016, contribute to the UN Country Analysis, the National Strategic Development Plan, and policy dialogues related to children’s rights.

School census The Ministry of Education is planning to release a part of the data from the recently finished school census (the first after almost 10 years) through Dev Info technology in the coming month. This is a major breakthrough as it will make available a wealth of new data to decision makers and partners that will be able to easily produce tables, graphs and maps at department, commune and section communal level.


For more information, please contact:

Jean-Jacques Simon, Chief of Communication [email protected]

Stephanie Kleschnitzki, Reporting Manager [email protected]

Suzanne Suh, Reports Specialist [email protected]

Or visit our web-site: http://www.unicef.org/haiti

sitrep 1 may 2012

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