Haiti cannot wait!

In the Haitian capital Port au Prince, people are shovelling debris with their bare hands. At the few active construction sites, they haul away earth, rebar, bricks and rubble – all that remains of their homes. ‘At this rate, all this will still be here for another ten years’, Haitians have told us.

Despite this cynicism, things have improved. The city has regained its liveliness, its horrendous traffic jams and its countless street vendors, and the terrible heat is barely tempered by periodic tropical storms. But temporary camps are everywhere and there is no tangible sense of urgency for rebuilding. Residents depend on humanitarian aid for survival. If Haiti is to have any real chance of recovery, it is imperative that the international community honours its commitment to spend $5.3 billion on reconstruction.

In 2010, two billion dollars in humanitarian aid has been injected into the Haitian economy, representing one-third of the country’s GDP. This money has saved and is still saving lives. The shelter, food, drinking water, health care and education services offered by humanitarian organistions remain vital.

But this humanitarian manna is also in danger of destabilising the economy. Land and housing prices are likely to rise, resulting in new social imbalances. It is also undermining the health care system. The establishment of humanitarian dispensaries, mobile clinics and hospitals, is forcing many private facilities to shut down. Paradoxically, the poor have never been so well cared for, while the rich, previously the only ones with access to the full range of health care, are now going abroad for medical treatment.

Haitian health care providers are increasingly hostile to what they see as unfair competition –despite the fact that the private health sector has never provided medical care for the country’s poorest.

Haitians also appear to increasingly resent the relative affluence of foreign aid workers, who are now being singled out for criticism in the local press. Yet the government continues to encourage the presence of NGOs.  

In 2011, aid to Haiti is likely to fall significantly. Aid agencies will start to leave and their local employees will lose their jobs, mobile clinics will close and the range of health services available to the poorest will be reduced.  By 2012, there may well be nothing left to show for the unprecedented humanitarian response. A quick analysis of the ‘Action Plan for recovery and national development in Haiti’  shows that, in its first 18 months, it plans to commit $215 million to improving the police force and judicial system, and $108m to revitalise the productive sector, including commerce, agriculture and tourism. But less than $150m of public investment is planned for housing, a grossly inadequate provision for the 1 million Haitians left homeless by the earthquake. 

Time is running out. Haiti cannot wait. If donors do not fulfil their financial commitments to support reconstruction then no progress will be made and the outpouring of solidarity born in the aftermath of 12 January 2010 will disappear. As ever, the poorest will end up paying the heaviest price when the bubble bursts.

Pierre Salignon is Director General of Humanitarian Action for Médecins du Monde. Luc Evrard is head of the economics service for the radio station Europe 1. They went to Haiti in mid-July 2010 to conduct a study on the economy after the earthquake for Médecins du Monde.