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Reconstruction after the 2010 Haiti earthquake
Achievements

Reconstruction after the 2010 Haiti earthquake

# Public Sector # Archtecture # Overseas # America

Strengthening healthcare services in Haiti

In the Republic of Haiti, there was a strong demand for improving health facilities and strengthening referral systems (cooperation among hospitals) in order to realize better healthcare services. In particular, the development of local hospitals and the improvement of healthcare services were urgent issues. Meanwhile, Haiti is located in an earthquake-prone area, and about 310,000 people died and 3.7 million people suffered due to the big earthquake in 2010. Haiti also experiences heavy rain and flood disasters from big hurricanes a few times each year. In particular, more than 1,000 people died due to hurricane “Matthew” in 2016. Therefore, Haiti regarded developing the core hospital in three regions which had enormous damage from the hurricane in 2008 as a priority, and requested the Japanese government to support the development of Saint-Michel Hospital in Jacmel in 2009. After that, a large earthquake struck in January 2010 and several facilities at the hospital were damaged. They continued to provide medical treatment in the remaining facilities, tents, and temporary buildings constructed by aid agencies because it was the only secondary hospital that had an emergency department and a prenatal medical facility in the South-East region. But those remaining buildings were also severely damaged and there was concern about further damage from aftershocks. Medical facilities and equipment were in shortage, and it was difficult to play a role as a secondary medical facility. Therefore, this project was conducted as a cooperation program in order to restore the confidence of local people and provide basic human needs by providing medical facilities, equipment and tools, and strengthening healthcare services in Haiti.

  • Damage caused by earthquake in Haiti

  • Temporary hospital ward built with wood

  • Hospital damage caused by earthquake in Haiti

Providing quality medical services and improving emergency medical response

Since the catchment area of the hospital was large with a population of approximately 510,000 in the South-East Department and approximately 3.83 million in neighboring departments, prompt and appropriate implementation of this project resulted in providing high quality medical services with many patients, and it was more effective especially to women, elderly people, children and low-income people in the area.

Furthermore, we installed seismic isolation devices with Japanese technology on the foundation of the hospital in order to minimize damage to facilities and equipment from the earthquake, which enabled the hospital to provide continuous medical treatment even in an emergency situation soon after the major earthquake. In the National Health Policy 2012 and Health Action Plan 2012-2022 prepared by the Haitian government, “strengthening and implementation of health infrastructure” was listed in “strengthening management of healthcare services and available resources for health”. The construction of the hospital was completed in 2016 as a project that contributed to the goals of the country's medium- and long-term development plan.

Currently, the hospital is positioned as a model hospital among all secondary medical facilities in Haiti by the Ministry of Public Health and Population, which has efficient facilities and equipment with its management system to provide healthcare services to other regions and departments. (This is information as of January 2020.)

  • Entrance of Jacmel Hospital

  • Isolation device

  • Waiting hall

Project Details

    Project: The Project for Improvement of Jacmel Hospital in the South-East Department
    Client: Ministry of Public Health and Population, Haiti