MIAMI — The crisis in Haiti is deepening as one of the most integral humanitarian health organizations is at risk of closing down, possibly leaving tens of thousands of people without food and medicine amid the growing violence in the country.
A decades-old non-profit faces the possibility of shuttering their operations and leaving at least 100,000 Haitian women and children without basic medical services.
The organization is Project Medishare, headquartered in Miami’s Little River neighborhood.
It provides community resources ranging from health screenings, vaccinations and maternal care to school lunch programs.
Dr. Barth Green, one of its co-founders, said he’s devastated by the news that the Trump administration rescinded billions directed at the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, which makes up 90% of the organization’s funding.
“It brought an 80-year-old neurosurgeon to tears,” he said.
Jenna Green, its development director, said, “It was like one day to the next, we got a stop work order and the funding was cut off and you know we were just completely at a loss.”
“Basically, we need to raise a million dollars before the end of the year to keep the doors of the entire program open,” she said.
Haiti is on the brink of total collapse, according to the United Nations, which reports that the rise in gang violence by armed groups is restricting humanitarian efforts, pushing families into hunger and displacing millions.
“In Haiti, why do these kids go to school?” Dr. Barth Green asked. “A lot of them? To get the only meal that they’ll have in their entire day.”
He added, “The reality of Port-au-Prince is kidnapping, raping (and) pillaging” in a country “totally controlled by gangs.”
What began as a medical trip to the Caribbean, turned into a mission to establish basic healthcare in Haiti, since then, Medishare has expanded into two health clinics and maternity centers, which safely deliver hundreds of babies and 55,000 health screenings for children who suffer from malnutrition, as well as enlisting natives to take over medical practices.
“For a million dollars, you can care for 100,000 people,” Jenna Green said. “For less than $10 per person per year, we can save lives. It’s a pretty impactful, digestible donation that $10 can save a life in Haiti.”
The deadline for Project Medishare is fast approaching. The organization says it could be forced to lay off more than 150 local healthcare workers as soon as Dec. 1 before permanently shutting down.
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