It is with no doubt that the hosting of the world FIFA world cup in African soil this year is a milestone in Africa. Besides boosting the image of Africa it has a likelihood of improving the status of the beautiful game in Africa. It should be recognized that sports and entertainment is great business with great careers globally. Though poorly exploited in Africa these are part of modern ways of earning livelihood and these are cash rich industries. Just consider the revenues generated and earned by the big global  soccer clubs , great players, music industry and entertainers, the film industry, athletics, tennis, motor sports, golf and others and the numbers are immense.

But back to Africa. What is the status of the African soccer? Today there are many African players playing in several rich global  leagues especially in Europe such as the UK Premier League, La Liga of Spain, Seria A of Italy, Bundesliga of Germany and the French Ligue 1. The numbers are growing and European top coaches are ever busy scouting for new and younger talent. But the bottom-line is that they have barely scratched the surface. Several commentators have over time commented that the future of soccer is in Africa. But there is immense room for improvement in the prevailing circumstances.

Just watching the ongoing Orange sponsored CAF  African Cup of Nations tournament in Angola, reveals salient weaknesses in African teams. They are so major that I have serious doubts about the African teams that will represent the continent in FIFA world cup in South Africa middle of the year. In a nutshell some of the teams such as Cote D’Ivoire and  Cameroon  have been a major disappointment. Notwithstanding the results Algeria, Ghana and Nigeria have many grey areas that can easily make them exit the world cup at group stages. Of course having followed closely the performance of the other world cup participant this year South Africa, the team is not promising either. This does not mean that Egypt who did not qualify for the World cup finals are any better despite their renown success in African soccer.

So what’s is the problem with African teams. It is everything. Besides having derelict soccer federations for majority of them, they range from player indiscipline, poor practice, lack of business like attitude on and outside  the field,  and of course coach and player blunders as well. What amazes is that many African players play in very competitive leagues in the globe more so in Europe, but the performance of their National teams is to say the least a disaster! It is without no doubt that in terms of talent the continent is well endowed . But translation into results for the various African states has been dismal. The much any African state has achieved  in major pure soccer tournament is quarter finals of the world cup thanks to Cameroon and Senegal.

From dysfunctional governments , corrupt soccer leadership , almost archaic schooling systems and myopic leadership , the African children miss out on big things in the global stage. The  numbers playing in major leagues of the world is just shallow in terms of potential. Shamelessly very few African  soccer leagues have any hope to offer. The  schooling system in most African states is bereft of spotting and nurturing talent, after all most African governments are very corrupt and perpetually broke.

To sum up as much that it can appreciated that soccer is improving in Africa the African Cup of Nationals finals have exposed  serious gaps. The African teams are quite far to compete effectively. If nothing is improved by the  teams participating in this year’s tournament we should forget about a glorious African team in the World cup, but rather another coronation of a European team , Brazil or Argentina. Coaches of top global national teams must have watched the African Cup of nations tournament keenly and identified the usual and obvious weaknesses in African teams. Indeed most would be keen to restrict and check the participation of the African teams  to the limits of the group stages and avoid them in the knock out stages knowing too well that the African teams may upset them in the knowledge that they  (African teams) play with nothing much of esteem to lose. Simply put, African soccer has a long way to go. It requires urgent and immediate improvements more so in businesslike approach and in discipline which is evidently lacking.

By Harrison  Mwirigi  Ikunda in Nairobi, Kenya

From J. Cholo Brooks/Liberia

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Monday delivered her Annual Message to the fifth Session of the 52^nd Legislature, expressing thanks and appreciation to lawmakers for the spirit of cooperation that exists between the Executive Branch and the National Legislature. The President urged the Honorable Body to pass a number of proposed legislations which have been submitted to it for enactment.

The legislations include the Investment Incentive Act of 2009; the International Convention Against Doping in Sports; three Mineral Development Agreements for operations in Rivercess, Grand Gedeh and Montserrado Counties.  Other Acts before the National Legislature include the Code of Conduct for public servants; and an Act to amend Title 2, Criminal Procedure Law, as enshrined in Volume 1 of the revised Liberian Code of Law.

Enactment of the proposed legislations have significant implications for the achievement of the country’s goal of national renewal, the President said.

The President disclosed that she would be submitting to the Legislature, for enactment, several proposed Acts intended to enhance the progress and tackle the challenges under the Poverty Reduction Strategy.  The Acts include: an Act Amending the Public Procurement and Concession Act of 2005, which will harmonize the New Mining and Mineral Law and Petroleum Law with the PPCA; An Act to Create the National Bureau of Concessions; the Liberian Law Reform Commission Act; the National Security Reform & Intelligence Act; An Act to amend Sub-chapter C of the Domestic Relation Law of Liberia 1956 & 1976 relating to Adoption; the National Insurance Commission Act; and the Amendment to the Insurance Act of 1973.

An Executive Mansion release says the Liberian leader also spoke of other Concession Agreements to be concluded and submitted to the National Legislature for ratification.  They are the Putu Iron Ore Mining Ltd.; BHP Billiton Iron Ore; Elenilto Minerals and Mining Ltd. for the Western Cluster; and the 2^nd Amendment to the China Union (Hong Kong) Mining Co., and China Union Investment (Liberia) Bong Mines Co. Ltd.

The President also announced that she would submit to the National Legislature for its consideration and enactment, an Act to amend the Act providing for Retirement Pension for the President & Vice President, the Speaker & Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate & Members of the National Legislature, the Chief Justice & Associate Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of Subordinate Courts of Record, Cabinet Ministers, Deputy & Assistant Ministers, Members of Autonomous Commissions, Ambassadors and other Senior Officials of Government, including Superintendents of Counties; and legislations to Repeal Moribund State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

The Liberian leader has, meanwhile, welcomed the enactment into law of several legislations, which the President described as significant to achieving the country’s development goals under the Poverty Reduction Strategy. The Legislature enacted 21 of the 26 legislations submitted by the President for passage during its Fourth Session.  The President recalled that 10 pieces of legislation submitted to the National Legislature during previous years were also enacted into law, for a total of 31 legislations enacted into law. They include: an Act to establish the Land Commission; the Public Finance Management Act; An Act to establish the Liberia Airport Authority; the Amendment to the Independent National Commission on Human Rights Act; and an Act Establishing the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI).

Meanwhile, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf also announced that she will be a candidate in the 2011 Presidential elections.  Announcing the decision at the end of her Annual Message, the President said she was bringing to end speculations regarding her candidacy, stressing that she will be a formidable candidate.  “I know from whence we came yesterday. I know where we are today; I know where we ought to be tomorrow and I know how we will get there,” the President declared, amid cheers and a standing ovation by supporters and well-wishers.

End

Send in by Eric Reeves

January 29, 2010

The evidence of recent months suggests that there is an increasingly grim logic governing the military and geographic future of southern Sudan—and a correspondingly urgent need for focused international diplomacy over the next year.  In particular the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party (NIF/NCP) regime in Khartoum must be made to feel real pressure to honor the key terms of its 2005 peace agreement with the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).  So far, the Obama administration has missed several key opportunities to increase that pressure, thereby making renewed military conflict in Sudan more likely.

Less than a year from now the people of southern Sudan will vote on whether they wish to remain part of a unified country or to secede and create an independent nation.  Virtually all observers expect that this referendum will result in an overwhelming vote for independence; indeed, only the conviction by southerners that the results of this referendum will be honored by the northern regime and the international community has sustained the fragile “Comprehensive Peace Agreement” (CPA) signed five years ago.  If the self-determination referendum is compromised, delayed, or preempted by Khartoum, the CPA will collapse and fighting will engulf much of Sudan.  Such a conflict will threaten regional security.

Despite the importance of the referendum, far too little has been done to ensure that it will occur as stipulated in the CPA.  The NIF/NCP regime—which will surely retain political and military power in Khartoum following compromised April elections—has consistently reneged on agreements and benchmarks set out in the peace agreement, including demarcation of the north/south boundary in the oil regions.  Various machinations and pronouncements by prominent regime officials, especially over the last year, make clear that there is no real commitment to honoring key obligations under the CPA, including the referendum.

This was the situation in October when the Obama administration rolled out its new “Sudan policy;” and it was the situation again this month during a high-level policy review by senior administration officials (the senior deputies from the State Department, Treasury, Defense, National Security Council, and the US delegation to the UN). And yet neither in October nor subsequently has this policy come to terms with the key question facing the US: will we work vigorously with the international community to guarantee the integrity of the self-determination referendum?  Will we support South Sudan in the event it votes to secede?  Will we declare this support publicly and unambiguously?  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s words, and particularly those of special envoy Scott Gration, are hardly encouraging in their tepid character.  The official administration policy announced on October 19, 2009 speaks only vaguely of wishing to see, in the event of a vote for secession, an “orderly path toward two separate and viable states at peace with each other.”  But this is not policy, merely a stating of the obvious.

The real question is what the US is prepared to say—now—by way of guaranteeing the integrity of the referendum vote.  What can we do to coordinate and focus international efforts to ensure that the referendum actually takes place?  What consequences will Khartoum face if it undermines the referendum or refuses to accept the outcome?  What economic, political, diplomatic, and military support are we prepared to guarantee a nascent South Sudan, a country-in-the-making that is presently wracked by ethnic violence, confronts a vast humanitarian crisis, and is plagued by various weaknesses of governance, especially in the arena of civilian security?

It matters enormously that the US and the international community be explicit about their commitments—for now is the time in which Khartoum is calculating the costs of subverting the referendum or resorting to military force as a way of controlling the oil fields and valuable agricultural land in the south.  If the US and its partners are perceived as merely mouthing support for an independent South Sudan, if Khartoum is convinced that it will confront only blustering rhetorical condemnation, then the chances for war increase dramatically, especially given the feckless and deferential posture of the African Union.  On the other hand, if Khartoum is convinced that failure to abide by the CPA or the terms governing the referendum will be truly costly, it will be much less likely to resort to military means as a way of controlling key parts of the south.

The tasks facing the US and those seeking to avoid a resumption of north/south war are, then, twofold: first, to convince Khartoum that there will be severe penalties for any abrogation of the CPA and in particular the self-determination referendum.   Second, since a southern vote for independence is virtually certain, intense diplomatic efforts should begin now to engineer a “soft landing” after secession.  Final establishment of a north/south border and an equitable division of oil wealth will surely prove the most contentious issues; but citizenship (especially for millions of southern Sudanese in northern Sudan), overland and air transport, water, a division of external debt, and full military disengagement will all be necessary.

Coherent, well-led, and energetic diplomacy to address these difficult issues is already long overdue; the US for its part should make clear, now and in robust terms, that we will fully support South Sudan if it votes for independence.  We must also convince both Khartoum and the southern leadership that we are prepared to assist in an international effort to address post-secession issues well before they become the occasion for a catastrophic renewal of violence throughout Sudan.
_____________________________
Eric Reeves
Smith College
Northampton, MA  01063

DHAKA,  – Bangladesh has made considerable advances in curbing leprosy, but for those who have the disease, tackling the associated stigma is more difficult.

Leprosy can be easily treated with multi-drug therapy (MDT) if diagnosed early, and is endemic in 121 countries, including Bangladesh, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

“There were some red lesions on my body and I started suffering sensory loss in my right hand,” recalled 20-year-old Joli, who first noticed symptoms of the debilitating disease seven years ago.

Neither Joli nor the doctor in her village in Comilla District, Chittagong Division, knew much about leprosy, but by the time she arrived at the Leprosy Control Institute and Hospital in Dhaka this year, it was too late: She cannot move her right hand and has great difficulty walking.

“It’s difficult for me to lead a normal life now. Even walking and carrying out simple daily tasks is difficult,” Joli said. Neither her father nor her mother are alive.

But worse than the diagnosis itself was the reaction of her family when they learned she had leprosy.

Also known as Hansen’s disease, after the doctor who discovered the bacterium that causes it, it is not very contagious, say health experts, but misperceptions are widespread.

“Neither my brother nor sister want anything to do with me. I don’t know how I will lead the rest of my life,” she said. “I feel alone.”

“There is still social stigma about leprosy in society. Many people have inaccurate knowledge about the disease. As a result, many patients do not come for treatment in the early stages,” Martin Adhikary, director of Leprosy Mission International – Bangladesh told IRIN, adding that he routinely comes across instances of discrimination.

“In some cases, their relatives and neighbours do not want any contact with them and they become isolated,” he said.

Photo: Courtesy of the National Leprosy Elimination Programme, Bangladesh

So heavy is the stigma burden that Abdul Hamid Salim, country director of the Damien Foundation, a Brussels-based NGO working to fight leprosy, believes many cases go undiagnosed.

“In Bangladesh the social stigma is prevalent among even educated sections of the community,” he said, adding that many feel a sense of shame, of being “unclean” upon learning they are infected – prompting many from deferring treatment early on.

One case in point is Sufia Begum, who first experienced symptoms in her hand six years ago but never sought treatment until recently.

“A village doctor told my sons and my family members that they should not touch me. They said I should be isolated,” Sufia told IRIN.

Progress

According to the National Leprosy Elimination Programme, Bangladesh (NLEP), 5,249 new leprosy cases were reported in 2008, a figure expected to remain roughly the same in 2009.

But big progress has been made in recent years thanks partly to mass public awareness campaigns.

In 1985, leprosy prevalence among registered patients was 10.79 per 10,000 people, but by December 2008 that number had dropped to 0.87. WHO says anything below one per 10,000 means the disease has been all but eliminated and no longer represents a major public health concern.

“Social stigma associated with leprosy is still prevalent in society in Bangladesh. But the Health Ministry through NLEP and NGOs is trying to motivate people,” said Shaikh Abdul Hadi, NLEP’s deputy programme manager.

As part of those efforts, NLEP is working closely with religious leaders, village doctors, as well as local and government representatives to get the message out, while in 2009, 15 skin camps set up in various parts of the country successfully diagnosed 79 new cases.

According to WHO, worldwide there were 249,007 new cases of leprosy in 2008, the vast majority in India, followed by Brazil, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Nepal.

Since 2002, more than 50,000 cases have been reported in Bangladesh.

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Photo: Sophia Paris/UN PHOTO

The Sri Lankan Battalion of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti provides security at a crowded stadium in Léogâne where WFP and ACTED distribute food to Haitians

—————

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  – More than 100 people were pressed against the iron gates of the mayor’s office in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville. “When will we get that food?” voices called out to the mayor, Claire Lydia Parent, who stood behind the closed gates.

The problem Parent faced was how to explain to the frustrated crowd that the food they just saw being delivered on 23 January was intended for a neighbouring community. “There is not enough food for everyone; that food was not meant for us. The drivers stopped unloading when they realized their mistake,” she told IRIN.

The deliverymen confirmed that the bags of rice from USAID were intended for another district of the devastated city.

According to Parent, Petionville has two large camps hosting 30,000 homeless people, but had received no organized food aid since the 12 January earthquake. The World Food Programme (WFP) insisted it had made one delivery to the municipality, formerly one of the most affluent areas of the city, and had made another attempt on 22 January.

Chasing rumours

Local resident Weslener Moziere, 31, told IRIN that people were desperately pursuing any rumour of food handouts. “We cannot benefit from food distribution if we do not get the right information. Since we do not know what is true or not, we just run after every hint of food.”

Long after Petionville’s mayor delivered her bad news to the crowd outside her office, residents lingered on her steps.

Petionville resident Jean-Marc Duvert told IRIN people were simply exhausted and did not know where to turn. “We are hungry and tired of elected officials taking food intended for us.”

Standing nearby in the crowd was the deputy mayor of Port-au-Prince, Guercy Mouscardy, who said he agreed with Duvert. “I cannot deny that some officials have repeatedly stolen food intended for their constituents. It does not happen everywhere like this, but it is true that this has happened in our country.”

Nancy Exilas, who is tracking WFP’s food distributions in Port-au-Prince, told IRIN the agency preferred to distribute food directly to the people whenever possible.

Photo: Sophia Paris/UN PHOTO

Haitians in the sprawling slum of Cité Soleil queue for WFP food

Boiling point?

When asked if he was concerned that hunger and frustration could escalate into violence, Mouscardy said he believed there was little risk of food riots. “People have suffered, but they will not do anything stupid.”

Tears brimming, Gerta Augustin, who had overheard the deputy mayor’s comment, said: “I lost my child, have no water or food, my house is destroyed and I have not been registered on any list of displaced. What makes you think I will not lose my mind?”

The Haitian government has identified some 250 “spontaneous gathering” points for those made homeless by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

WFP spokesman David Orr said the agency was delivering food to 20 locations a day. He added that more than four million meals had been provided to 250,000 people since the earthquake struck.

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Photo: UN Photo/Marco Dormino

A tent community takes over Port-au-Prince golf course

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  – The Haitian government estimates at least 500,000 need shelter after the 12 January earthquake devastated the city, but the challenge is to find options that will get people through the upcoming hurricane season, which typically starts in May, said Jean Phillippe Antolin, with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is coordinating UN efforts to provide shelter.

The government has identified at least 30 sites to turn into temporary tent communities in Port-au-Prince, most in areas where people are already informally camped out, but longer-term solutions are required.

Antolin told IRIN the numbers needing shelter outstrip current resources – even for temporary tenting. “We cannot come up with tents for up to 700,000 people – we simply do not have them at hand.” He added that even where available, a tent-based community approach would be at best good for the next three months.

In a working draft of a shelter strategy for earthquake victims, the UN has proposed alternatives. They include providing support to host families to take in those made homeless, as was done after last year’s hurricanes; providing materials to improve safety and comfort in areas where people have gathered; assessing which houses are safe for reoccupation; and as a last resort, to build new settlements, which IOM’s Antolin said would be the most complicated option.

“Unless there is already donor-backed construction under way, this option is the least feasible,” Antolin told IRIN.

The government is, however, evaluating how many people can be relocated to an Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)-financed construction in the Croix-de-Bouquets neighbourhood.

Bulldozers before tents?

Sites may have been chosen, mayors notified, NGOs lined up, but what is still missing to prepare temporary tent communities is heavy equipment and land surveyors, according to IOM.

Antolin told IRIN the first step to improving living conditions for those made homeless is to assess the safety of their living spaces, dig drainage and make sure the sites comply with government regulations. “To do that, we need engineers to assess the land and heavy equipment to prepare the space. We do not have either.”

“Without those two, we cannot even start worrying about the shortage of tents because we will not have anywhere to place those tents.”

We need engineers to assess the land and heavy equipment to prepare the space. We do not have either.”

He said discussions were under way with the US army’s corps of engineers.

Aid groups

Groups that are managing communities approved as temporary settlements include Islamic Relief UK, the Portuguese civil defence, the Turkish Red Crescent and the German Red Cross.

Oxfam International is working at sites called “spontaneous gathering” spots by the government, and will continue recovery efforts in Haiti for the next three years while supporting communities around the settlements, programme officer Rick Bauer told IRIN. “If we do not work with surrounding communities, the temporary tents become snob settlements and service magnets.”

Groups that are considering camp management include the US-based Samaritan Purse, UN Environmental Programme, Handicap International, the NGO Amurt & Amurtel and Médecins Sans Frontières.

Samaritan Purse has announced it is expecting a barge of equipment to dock at Port-au-Prince on 29 January, which will be made available to groups preparing land for tent communities.

Planning for more earthquakes

Haiti is likely to continue experiencing aftershocks from the magnitude-7 earthquake for months and possibly years to come, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), an earth and life sciences research organization. The Haitian government needs to take into account the inevitability of future earthquakes in its rehabilitation plans, said USGS senior science adviser, David Applegate.

“With tent communities you do not face so much the risk of building collapse in earthquakes, but rather secondary risks of landslides and drainage problems. Long-term reconstruction must take into account proximity from the fault line, while short-term relocation must pay attention to flood-prone zones,” said Applegate.

Haiti is bisected by two major plate boundary fault zones. Over the past three centuries, earthquakes comparable to or stronger than the 12 January disaster have struck Haiti at least four times, including those in 1751 and 1770 that destroyed Port-au-Prince.

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Photo: Phuong Tran/IRIN

Sense of stability will help recovery

JACMEL, – Crowds in Haiti stampede out of buildings at the hint of a tremor; mothers refuse to breastfeed for fear of passing on their depression; people complain of headaches and insomnia. Mental health specialists say that until routines are in place and the basic needs of food, water and shelter are there, fear can obstruct personal recovery.

“When people who have been through a terrible ordeal feel safe, have access to shelter, food and water, and have the basic means for survival, they can recover quite quickly,” said Alison Schafer, mental health and psychosocial support group coordinator at World Vision, an international faith-based relief organisation.

Thousands still line up for the sporadic food and water distributions in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and surrounding areas, but supplies frequently run out before the end of the queue is served. Signs pleading, “Help us now”, in English, Spanish and French have been put up throughout the capital, along with phone numbers and wish lists.

No goodbyes

Government clean-up crews have found more than 100,000 cadavers and were still finding them more than two weeks after the earthquake hit on 12 January, said Jude Celestin, director of the National Centre of Equipment, a construction group.

“A pressing need would be to say farewell to those that have died,” said World Vision’s Schafer. Construction workers have been told to place the bodies in one of 30 mass graves around the city.

One of the workers, Blaise Henry, told IRIN he had dragged cadavers from the rubble and taken them to mass graves around the city. “With each body I bury, I know that is one more family not able to say goodbye, who does not know where I am burying their father, sister, mother.”

No breastfeeding

On the south coast in the town of Jacmel, the earthquake damaged every part of St Michel hospital, the southeast region’s main referral facility, except the radiology department; doctors walk around concrete slabs to get to their patients.

In the maternity tent outside the hospital, Nadia Beauzile, 22, lies beside her day-old baby. When asked whether she would breastfeed her baby, she shook her head. “I am sad. I cannot breastfeed. I will not give her my milk for another six months,” she told IRIN. She was not sure what she would feed her baby instead.

Why would I send my child into a building with no teacher and questionable safety? He does not need to learn to read so badly

The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding without supplements for the first six months to boost the baby’s immune system and improve its chances of survival, as mother’s milk is packed with nutrients and antibodies.

Haitian mothers who have not felt in good physical or mental health since the earthquake worry that they will pass their “bad health” to their baby, said Saiko Chiba, a member of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) country support team.

No to buildings

“There is a national psychosis that prevents people from sleeping in even structurally sound buildings,” said Zidor Fednel, the government’s regional representative for southeast Haiti, where 30,000 homes have been damaged and 21,000 persons made homeless, according to official estimates.

During consultations at the National Centre for Diagnostic and Treatment in the Sacre Coeur neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince on 21 January, patients stampeded out of the hospital when there was a hint of a tremor. “I felt something move and did not want to be in the building, so I ran. Did you not feel it?” said hospital volunteer Brutas Richie Camartinière, 19.

There have been numerous aftershocks, one a magnitude-6.1 on 20 January. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said damaging earthquakes were possible in the coming months, and inevitable in the long term.

The Haitian government has announced plans to reopen schools in Port-au-Prince on 1 February, but 97 percent of the schools were completely destroyed, the remaining buildings have not been evaluated for safety, and hundreds of teachers were killed.

“Why would I send my child into a building with no teacher and questionable safety? He does not need to learn to read so badly. I want him with me – we have already lost so much. School can wait,” said Franclin Montina, 38.

When asked whether she would allow her child to attend school if engineers declared the building safe, she said, “No, some cracks are very small and some earthquakes are very strong.”

No psychologist

Luc Antoine, medical director of St Michel hospital in Jacmel, told IRIN that the staff have referred four mental health cases to another hospital. “We have no capacity to treat them. There are many more cases – so many specialists have arrived to our hospital since the earthquake, but not one psychologist.”

He has asked aid organizations for tranquilizers. “Out of every 50 patients, at least 30 present symptoms of depression or anxiety, from psychosomatic diarrhoea to insomnia and headaches. The psychological aftershocks continue alongside the physical ones.”

Some progress

Haiti’s national drug warehouse (PROMESS) in Port-au-Prince has psychotropic medication in stock, but the Ministry of Health has noted the shortage of medical services in Jacmel and other health centres outside the capital.

David Baduel, director of the World Food Programme in Jacmel, said humanitarian shipments to the town were not yet coordinated. “We never know what we are getting, how, or when – we know something is coming when it is here.”

A doctor has now been stationed at the airport to streamline the distribution of medical supplies. “She came to volunteer but saw that no one was coordinating medical shipments.”

Some of the 150 health organizations registered with United Nations have reported a decline in physical trauma cases but an increase in mental health problems. Médècins Sans Frontières and Canadian Medical Assistance Teams have begun providing mental healthcare.

Haiti’s Ministry of Health is developing a mental health strategy and International Medical Corps is coordinating psychological care with national organizations.

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