Take  only as needed

After a major international crisis, everybody wants to help. Some because it’s the right thing to do, others because it is the humanitarian thing to do, or simply because everyone else is doing it.  Unfortunately, not all “help” offered is really an aid to the party suffering during the crisis.  Their are occasions when those offering aid, also seek personal gain.  And even those with good intentions; end up having their time or money used for other purposes than they anticipated.

On January 12, 2010 an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck Haiti, with its epicenter near the capital Port-Au-Prince.  This earthquake devastated a country already suffering from years of political and social turmoil.  Haiti prior to the earthquake had already high poverty rates (more than 50% living on less than $1/day), high unemployment rates (ranging from 60-80%), illiteracy (more than 40%) and a Human Development Index Ranking of 145th out of 169 countries. The earthquake left an estimated 220,000 people dead, 3,500,000 persons affected and over 1 million persons homeless.

There was a huge response from NGOs, religious groups, healthcare activists, and the international community. Unfortunately, all the “help really didn’t necessarily help”.  Haitian born singer Wyclef Jean wanted to help.  He decided to help through his NGO Yele Haiti. Unfortunately, the no longer operational NGO is closed due to alleged reports of tax evasion and misuse of funds and donations. Many fraudulent NGOs were formed and individual arrested for scams that took advantage the of the desire to help, but ended in their money going into personal accounts.  In another attempt help the people of Haiti, Wyclef Jean then decide to run for president of Haiti. However, his bid to be President was derailed because he did not meet certain requirements, which included the fact that he had not lived in Haiti sufficient time to be a candidate.

In health care there were causalities of person’s good intentions gone wrong as well.  Due to poor planning and organization many volunteers arrived to Haiti, with little training in emergency care. Others arrived, but due to pre-existing conditions were not able to offer service, and even worse some were evacuated shortly after their arrival due to their inability to adjust to local conditions.  Even healthy volunteers had their efforts hampered due to poor communication and management between NGOs and local health care officials. Not to mention the countless stories of food and medications sent to Haiti through donations, to only end up being sold on the open market to the highest bidder. Then there is the appearance of the Epidemic of Cholera in Haiti after the earthquake.  This epidemic leads too many deaths, and countless ill patients that added a strain on the already debilitated post-earthquake healthcare system.  The strain of Cholera origins was identified to have come from South Asia.  It is believed that it presence in Haiti was a result of volunteers, which lead to several lawsuits from victims of Cholera suing the UN.

So in times of crisis, the help from the international community is important. However, it is crucial to determine the agenda of those involved. It is also important to determine, the short-term and long term goals. Studies have shown that there are occasions that with proper management, the use of funds can be more beneficial to local communities than the temporary effect of volunteers.  More importantly proper communication, planning and utilization of resources is key to better health care outcomes, after a natural disaster.

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