The 6th Mortality, Morbidity, and Utilization of Services Survey (EMMUS-VI) conducted by the Haitian Institute of Childhood in collaboration with the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Informatics, sponsored by the Ministry of Public Health with the technical assistance from the World Program for Demographic and Health Surveys reveals a worrying drop in the number of vaccinated children in Haiti which concerns the authorities.

According to the final results of this survey published on Tuesday, indicate that the percentage of children under 2 who have received all their vaccines that had increased between 2005 and 2012 from 41% to 45% declines since 2012. The percentage of children having received all all their vaccines and the percentage of those who have not received any vaccine has now fallen to the 2005-2006 level (41% and 10% respectively).

More than 50% of children have not received all their basic vaccines (polio, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and hepatitis), note the authorities who point to the lack of information and financial difficulties faced by poor families to visit the Vaccination Centers "This is due to several factors, access to health centers is particularly difficult for the families," recognizes Dr. Marie Greta Roy Clément, the resigning Minister of Public Health, while the vaccines are freely available in these Centers.

According to EMMUS-VI, the infant mortality rate remains unchanged (59 deaths per 1,000 births) underlining that "1 in 12 children do not reach their fifth birthday."

This new sanitary survey highlights the difficulties for Haiti to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 "Much remains to be done," said Minister Clement adding "There is room for improvement with resources allocated to us" wishing that in the next budget (2018-2019), which is not yet approved, the budget for health (6.1% of the national budget) be preserved.

TB/ HaitiLibre