On February 29th, a series of attacks were carried out across Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, by heavily armed criminal gangs. Since that moment, thousands of Haitians have been displaced or rendered homeless. According to the UN, over 1500 people have been killed. Food insecurity has spiked across the country, with severe nutritional impacts, particularly on children. Limits to movement and personal safety have threatened the functioning of the health system and other essential services, resulting in a rapidly changing systemic social crisis. The current events are also occurring within a longer-term crisis in Haiti of weak governance, inequality, and systemic disruptions. New data on population mobility and conflict dynamics helps shed light on how the violence impacts communities across the island and the need for practical and sustained local civil society and health system response efforts.
Speakers:
- Dr. Natalie Colas, Internist and Medical Director, St Luke Family Hospital, Port-au-Prince
- Sandra Pellegrini, Latin America and Caribbean Regional Specialist, ACLED (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data)
- Xavier Vollenweider, Director of Mobile Data Partnerships, Flowminder.org
- Marie-Rose Romain Murphy, Co-Founder & Board President, Fondation Communautaire Haitienne-Espwa/The Haiti Community Foundation & ESPWA, Inc.
Moderator:
- Dr. Andrew Schroeder, VP of Research and Analysis, Direct Relief and Co-Director, CrisisReady
