Sunday 17 January, 2010
Health risks to children in Haiti, warns Save the Children
Save the Children’s emergency health and nutrition director, Kathryn Bolles, says
she is concerned about the increased health risks for children in Haiti, as clean
water supplies become scarce and sanitation conditions deteriorate.
“Because clean water is very scarce, families in makeshift camps may be forced to
use contaminated water to mix baby formula, which puts infants at risk of life-
threatening diarrhea,” says Bolles, who has been traveling from camp to camp to
provide health care and assessment. “People are crowded together with very little
shelter and no sanitation systems. Under these conditions, everyone is at risk of
communicable diseases, but we know that children under age 5 are the most
vulnerable.”
Bolles is encouraging breastfeeding among mothers of infants, particularly those she
has met who have just given birth in the camps. Save the Children is also delivering
essential medical supplies and IV solutions to 14 hospitals and medical clinics in the
impacted area.
“Patients are overflowing from the hospital buildings,” reports Bolles, “and some are
lying in the compound waiting for medical attention.”
Save the Children is bringing five Haitian American physicians from the United
States to help provide medical care to the families in the camps and set up mobile
health clinics.
Since the earthquake on January 12, Save the Children’s staff members in Haiti have
been responding to the immediate needs of children and families. The aid agency
has worked in Haiti since 1978 and has more than 100 staff members in the country.
To Donate to Save the Children’s Haiti earthquake emergency appeal:
call 1800 760 011
call at any NAB nationally
NEWS 
