American Red Cross Announces Expanded Haiti Health, Shelter and Financial Assistance Initiatives
Monday, July 12, 2010
Progress seen six months after Haiti earthquake, but much more remains to be done
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thursday, July 8, 2010 – The American Red Cross today announced a series of new
or expanded initiatives that will help keep open the largest general hospital in
Haiti, help build more semi-permanent shelters for 40,000 people now living in
tents and tarps, and provide financial assistance to tens of thousands of earthquake
survivors through an innovative text messaging program.
The announcements were made
during a Red Cross briefing on the upcoming six-month anniversary of the
devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti.
“Six months after the
earthquake, Haiti is filled
with signs of hope and progress as well as reminders of the immense needs that
still remain,” said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross,
who has been to Haiti
three times since the earthquake. “The Red Cross has improved the quality of
life for hundreds of thousands of Haitians with emergency shelter, food, water,
medical treatment, latrines and other supplies – and we are also investing in other
recovery projects such as building shelters and improving water and sanitation
systems.”
The new or expanded American Red
Cross initiatives include:
Health
- $7.9 million for health programs, including a $3.8
million agreement with Partners in Health to pay salaries of more than
1,800 Haitian doctors, nurses and other staff at the largest general
hospital in Port-au-Prince.
All of these hospital employees had been working without pay since even
before the earthquake, and American Red Cross funding will cover their
lost wages and enable to hospital to continue to provide critically needed
health care.
- $1.8 million to keep open a German Red Cross
field hospital in Carrefour that has seen an average of 1,700 patients a
week since it opened in January.
- $1.4 million in prosthetics and rehabilitation
support to injured Haitians through a partnership with the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
- $900,000 on health programs in camps to educate
Haitians about hygiene and HIV to prevent outbreaks of disease.
Shelter
- $8.6 million on new shelter efforts in Haiti, with this money focused on building
semi-permanent shelters for people now living in tarps and tents in Port-au-Prince and
surrounding areas.
- In coming weeks we expect to sign agreements
worth more than $21 million to build more semi-permanent shelters to house
about 40,000 people.
- Construction on 300 temporary shelters, enough
for 1,500 people, has begun in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Cite
Soleil in what will be the first large-scale shelter project in the
capital by a single organization.
Financial Assistance
- $9.7 million for a series of new or expanded
programs that provide financial assistance to Haitians, including a $6.1
million cash-for-work program with Mercy Corps to support families outside
Port-au-Prince who are hosting homeless Haitians and a $3.6 million expansion
of a cash grant and loan program with Fonkoze, Haiti’s largest
microfinance institution.
Innovative Text (SMS) Cash Transfer Program
In addition, the Red Cross
said today that it is launching a major $50 million SMS cash transfer program
to give cash grants of approximately $125 to up to 400,000 Haitian families
over the next several months. Recently, the American Red Cross tested a
technologically innovative program to give cash grants to families using cell
phones and text messaging. During this successful pilot, smaller $50 cash
grants were given out to help nearly 1,800 families move from at-risk camps to
camps in safer areas. This newly expanded program will enable families to buy
food and supplies, fund the education of their children, purchase medicine, repair
homes, relocate from camps, and invest in their businesses and livelihoods.
“Through these programs,
families who once stood in line for relief distributions will now be empowered
to buy some of the basic items they need most, which in turn should help
stimulate the country’s economy,” McGovern said, noting that even modest
amounts of money can make a big difference to Haitian families, as 70 percent of
Haitians lived on less than $2 a day prior to the earthquake.
“The same cell phone
technology that enabled Americans to text donations for Haiti will now
enable earthquake survivors to access money to support their families,” said
McGovern.
Hurricane Preparedness
With hurricane season already
underway, the Red Cross is working on disaster preparedness programs for
vulnerable people currently living under tarps or tents. This includes programs
that will train 500,000 camp residents on emergency first aid, safe evacuation
procedures and early warning systems, as well as funding efforts to dig ditches
and put sandbags on steep hillsides to reduce flooding. In addition, the Red
Cross is pre-positioning emergency supplies such as tarps, tents and blankets
for 125,000 people in 10 cities around Haiti
and in a regional warehouse in Panama.
Money Raised and Spent
The American Red Cross has
raised approximately $468 million for the Haiti relief and recovery efforts,
spending nearly a third of the money - $148.5million – in the first six months. About 38% of the money has been spent on food
and emergency services; about 35% on emergency and transitional/semi-permanent
shelters; 10% on livelihoods and host family assistance; 8% on health and
disease prevention programs; 5% on disaster preparedness activities as well as
4% on providing clean water and sanitation. The shelter and financial
assistance agreements to be signed in the next several weeks will add another
$71 million in spending.
The American Red Cross is on
track to meet its goal of spending more than $200 million to address immediate needs
– mostly in the first 12 months after the earthquake. The remainder of the
funds raised will go to longer-term recovery over the next three to five years,
with spending plans likely to evolve to respond to changing needs.
“We know that the crisis in Haiti is not
over and the recovery process will be long and difficult,” McGovern said. “Haiti and its
people must rebuild their homes, economy, health systems, schools and
transportation networks. With an estimated $12 billion needed to rebuild Haiti, the
needs are beyond the capacity of the Red Cross alone to fix, and will require
the collective efforts of governments and humanitarian groups around the world.”
“The American Red Cross will
support earthquake survivors in the months and years to come, and will be in Haiti
until the last donated dollar is spent,” she added.
About
the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to
victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches
lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports
military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization
— not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the
American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.
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