Tuesday, May 5 during a conference, Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), expressed concern explaining that many Haitians believe that the Covid-19 pandemic is "A political trick" and do not understand the gravity of the situation.

In addition, she recalled that the Haitians are threatening to prevent the construction of quarantine establishments and that several health workers had been attacked.

For Dr. Carissa Etienne, this threat to health infrastructure and health workers is "a great concern" recalling the limited capacity of the Haitian health system, the lack of health professionals and protective equipment for those on the front line.

She warned that in Haiti there is a "real danger of a large-scale epidemic" to which is added a risk of worsening food insecurity likely to cause famine "We are particularly concerned about Haiti and I would like to sound the alarm in the face of an impending humanitarian crisis..."

She said she was particularly concerned from a health point of view, by the approach of Haiti which so far has only reported 101 cases of Covid-19 and 12 deaths https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30707-haiti-covid-19-daily-bulletin-may-6-2020.html , recalling "Most Haitians do not have access to drinking water and sanitation and many live in houses overcrowded where quarantine and isolation are challenges" she concluded.

In addition, on Wednesday, the Minister of Public Health, Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas estimated that the Haitian authorities were not reporting all the cases of coronavirus that exist in their country.

He stressed that the files held by the Pan American Health Organization contained very little information, however, he stressed that PAHO had issued a health warning, which he said did not correspond to the data provided by Haiti" What we are saying is that under health and social conditions, many more cases exist than those that are reported and this probably explains the PAHO warning.

SL/ HaitiLibre