Access to healthcare in Haiti: keeping health centres open amid violence

The photographs and testimony in this story were gathered on 22 June 2026. Since then, the security situation in Kenscoff, around 10 to 20 kilometres southeast of Port-au-Prince, has deteriorated dramatically. In early July, attacks by armed groups struck several communities in the Grand Fond area, particularly Robin and Kenscoff. More than 70 civilians were killed, homes and businesses were destroyed, people were kidnapped, and many families were forced to flee. Alongside its partners, AVSI is responding to the emergency. Today, the needs in Kenscoff are even greater than when these images were taken.

At the Centre de Santé de Jalousie, in Pétion-Ville, the morning begins the way it always has: with waiting.

The main consultation room is divided. On one side, mothers wait for nutrition screenings; on the other, children are vaccinated. Women arrive with babies in their arms, sit along the green wall and wait to hear their names called.

Michaelle Belizaire is one of those mothers.

She is holding Nayra, her daughter, who is just twenty-two days old. When her turn comes, a health worker places a pulse oximeter on the baby’s foot and checks her oxygen levels. It takes less than a minute, but this kind of ordinary care has become increasingly difficult to access in many parts of Pétion-Ville, Port-au-Prince.

For families across the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, simply reaching a functioning health facility has become an ordeal, as armed violence has emptied entire neighborhoods and cut supply routes, making access to healthcare increasingly difficult.

At the Centre de Santé de Kenscoff, in the hills southeast of the capital, a police armoured vehicle stands outside the entrance, ready to respond to potential attacks.

Inside, the signs of neglect are visible everywhere. Paint peels from damp walls. An examination table sits beneath a draped sheet in a consultation room that has gone years without maintenance. At Fermathe, the radiology department remains closed, while stacks of paper records wait to be digitised. Ageing infrastructure and damaged equipment have rendered many rooms unusable.

And yet, every day, the doors open.

At Kenscoff, a nurse ties a tourniquet and prepares to draw blood. At Jalousie, another works steadily through a line of children waiting for vaccines.

Despite the challenges, the staff have stayed.

Since April 2026, AVSI has been supporting four health facilities in the West Department — Jalousie, Kenscoff, Fermathe and CHOSCAL — through a multisectoral emergency assistance project, with support from the Regional Humanitarian Pooled Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean (RHPF LAC), within a consortium led by ACTED, together with Concern Worldwide and Solidarités International.

The support is practical, designed to help health centres safely stay open for the people who depend on them.

At Jalousie, renovation works will improve the entrance, waiting area and access ramp, allowing patients to enter the facility safely and with dignity. Additional space will also be created to ensure privacy during consultations.

At Kenscoff, two prefabricated units will be installed to create something the centre has never had before: a dedicated paediatric unit, alongside additional consultation rooms. The facility will also benefit from masonry, plumbing and electrical repairs, as well as water and sanitation improvements.

At Fermathe, renovation works will focus on the entrance, maternity ward and radiology department. The radiology service will be rehabilitated and equipped with the shielding required to operate safely for both patients and healthcare workers.

Across all four facilities, medicines, medical supplies and equipment will be provided, while mobile clinics will help extend healthcare services to communities with limited access.

The project will also strengthen local health systems by training 50 healthcare workers. Over a six-month period, it will support 8,331 people with nutrition services, 6,352 with protection services and more than 3,500 households — approximately 17,660 people — through cash assistance for food.

On paper, these improvements may appear modest. In reality, they mean that health centres can continue serving their communities despite the challenges surrounding them.

Women attending antenatal consultations will no longer wait beneath leaking roofs. Laboratories will have the space and equipment needed to function properly. Essential medicines will be available when needed. A paediatric unit will finally exist. A radiology department will once again be able to provide services.

For Michaelle, it means that one day she may carry Nayra up a proper access ramp rather than navigating broken steps.

For a patient in Kenscoff, it means a blood sample analyzed in a laboratory equipped to do so.

For healthcare workers across all four centres, it means continuing to serve their communities with better tools — and the reassurance that they are not standing alone.

The doors will be open, and someone will be there. Just as they have been all along’.

Photos: Nadia Todres for AVSI, 22 June 2026.