Above: the new centre in Ouanaminthe
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Haiti officially opened the rehabilitated health centre in the northern border town of Ouanaminthe on Friday.
United States Ambassador Pamela White was on hand for the inauguration ceremony, joined by Haiti Ministry of Health Northeast Department Director Jean Denis Pierre and Pierre Sadate, the director of the medical centre.
The United States, through the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives, helped repair the facility, including fixing the roof, tiling the floors of the maternity unit and rehabilitating its sterilization room.
“this medical centre, providing health services to more than 100,000 people from the areas surrounding Ouanaminthe, is a testament to the Haitian government’s commitment to extending basic services to its citizens,” White said.
USAID’s Santé pour le Développement et la Stabilité d’Haïti project is providing the centre with a package of integrated health services, according to the government, including child and maternal care, family planning and HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
The project is also enhancing the facility’s information systems, waste management and financial and human resource management.