The image, from March 1, is eloquent: two Haitian women seek shelter during a shootout in Port-au-Prince between the police and one of the armed gangs that have the Caribbean country in check.
A month ago it was estimated that up to 80% of the capital of Haiti was in the power of gangs, and the United Nations then warned of the impact of violence on the population: more than 4,000 dead and some 300,000 displaced, “half of them women and girls who have been forced to flee their homes and live in makeshift shelters, without access to basic services, leaving them vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse. Pregnant women, nursing mothers and girls struggle to access critical services, as Haiti’s health care system teeters on the brink of collapse. Hospitals do not have the capacity or supplies to treat patients; some have also been attacked and forced to suspend services.”
Many schools have also had to close.
