Haiti – lending a helping hand and making a donation

We’ve received inquiries from CPHA members and non-members alike, asking how CPHA is responding to the emergency humanitarian situation and to the longer-term post-earthquake reconstruction effort in Haiti.  CPHA does not involve itself directly in emergency humanitarian responses to crises, as there are many capable multilateral organizations, such as WHO, PAHO and UNICEF, as well as NGOs that deliver emergency humanitarian assistance. Among the Canadian NGOs involved in these immediate efforts are the Canadian Red Cross, CARE, World Vision, Doctors without Borders/Médecins sans frontières, CECI, Plan Canada, Oxfam Canada and Oxfam Québec, the Mennonite Central Committee and La Fondation Paul Gérin-Lajoie.  For those of you seeking information about opportunities to volunteer your services in Haiti in response to the immediate humanitarian crisis situation, we suggest you contact either the Canadian Red Cross or Doctors without Borders/Médecins sans frontières.

The Association de santé publique d'Haïti (ASPHA) is a long-standing CPHA partner through the Strengthening of Public Health Associations (SOPHA) Program. We understand through the ASPHA President that the Board members are safe and sound.  Its office in Port-au-Prince sustained minor damage.

CPHA has also been working in Haiti over the past several years through the Canadian International Immunization Initiative (CIII – Phase 2).  We have identified and deployed many Canadian technical experts to work with the Ministry of Public Health and Population, through PAHO, in support of strengthening the national Expanded Programme on Immunization.

We are presently in consultations with ASPHA, the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population, PAHO and other organizations to determine the role CPHA and the Canadian public health community can play in rebuilding Haiti’s public health system and infrastructure. We will keep you informed about CPHA’s initiatives in Haiti once the rebuilding effort gets underway.

Donations to CPHA in support of the reconstruction of Haiti's public health system are most welcome. As a charitable organization, CPHA will provide a charitable donation tax receipt for amounts of $10 or more. You can donate on-line through CanadaHelps.org (writing Haiti public health system reconstruction in the Message/Instructions box) or by sending your donation to:

Haiti public health system reconstruction
c/o Canadian Public Health Association
1565 Carling Ave., Suite 400
Ottawa, ON  K1Z 8R1 Canada

For further information, please contact Jim Chauvin, Director of CPHA’s Global Health Programs, at: jchauvin@cpha.ca