The United States Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has donated 37 artificial ventilators to Haiti to fight Covid-19. These ventilators will be dispatched to seven hospitals across Haiti.

U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Michele Sison, declared: "The President of the United States and the American people provide these ventilators to the Haitian people in order to save lives. This American-made equipment is state-of-the-art and will deliver quality care to Haitian patients in need. This donation we provide to Haiti is part of a global program to provide ventilators critical to the treatment of severe cases of COVID-19 to countries around the world."

These ventilators play a vital role in caring for critically ill COVID-19 patients. Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, these ventilators will help Haitian doctors deliver life-saving intensive care to patients suffering from other severe, life threatening cardiac, pulmonary, and trauma-related illnesses. They represent a significant contribution in strengthening Haiti's health system. In addition to the ventilators, USAID is funding a tailored package of support that includes installation, an initial training for healthcare workers, and a one-year service agreement for regular maintenance. This donation builds on the $16.1 million the U.S. government has committed to Haiti in response to the pandemic, through the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USAID. This funding is helping to strengthen clinical care, train health workers, build lab capacity, improve disease surveillance, disseminate health messages to reduce risks within Haitian communities, install handwashing stations, and distribute soap in vulnerable neighborhoods, and more.

The 37 ventilators arrived in Haiti by plane on September 3 and are currently stored in the USAID Global Health Supply Chain warehouse to be dispatched to select hospitals in the coming days.

HL/ HaitiLibre