Americares Emergency Airlift lands in Haiti with $6 million worth of supplies

An American Air Lift with 12 tons of critically needed medicines and relief items landed in Haiti to support local health care providers treating earthquake survivors.

The chartered plane landed in Port-au-Prince on Thursday afternoon with critical care supplies, including trauma care supplies, personal protective equipment, cardiovascular medication and medical supplies worth over $ 6 million. Americares is an organization that focuses on providing health relief; it is operating with its partner organization "Hope for Haiti." The relief supplies will be given to Hope for Haiti mobile medical teams giving outreach and rural areas, as well as more than 30 partner health facilities. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake on August 14 killed more than 2,200 people, injured more than 12,000 and destroyed tens of thousands of homes. An estimated 650,000 people urgently need humanitarian aid --- about 40 percent of the population in the affected areas, as per the Pan American Health Organization. Fifty-nine health facilities reported damage, including 27 severely damaged.

"There are some rural areas where survivors still have not obtained medical attention, so we are working to move care and medical professionals into the hard-to-reach areas," said Julie Hard, Americares Emergency Team Leader in Haiti.

"We are also very concerned about the spread of contagious diseases, including COVID-19, and facilitate gloves, masks and face guards to safeguard health workers."

The recent consignment of supplies by Americares is a third major earthquake shipment, while additional deliveries are planned to arrive in the coming days. At the same time, Americares mobilizes Haitian medical professionals to personalize medical teams in the South and Grand'Anse departments.

Americares has been working in Haiti since the 1980s, supporting health centres and local organizations with donated medicine and medical care both in response to emergencies and ongoing needs. It also provided relief in the 2010 Port-au-Prince earthquake, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic in Haiti.