CDC Responds to the Haiti Earthquake

UPDATE: This information is current as of February 14, 2010, 2:00 PM ET

CDC is working with others in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), various branches of the U.S. military, and other federal and international agencies to help communities in Haiti recover from the powerful earthquake that struck the country on January 12, 2010. CDC is collaborating with national and international partners to meet urgent public health needs and establishing liaisons and coordination needed for successful, long range public health programs in response to the earthquake. As of February 11, 2010, 368 CDC staff members are currently engaged in response activities, of these 27 are deployed to Haiti and other response agencies.

CDC staff members in Haiti are helping the government of Haiti address urgent public health threats. CDC experts participated on Initial Rapid Assessment (IRA) teams that collected health, food, water, nutrition, and sanitation data from 224 sites across Haiti. The IRA has been completed and CDC staff members in Haiti and Atlanta are assisting with data analysis from the IRAs. These data will be released by the U.N. and used to develop and prioritize immediate interventions.

CDC is collaborating with international partners to conduct ongoing needs assessments as the basis for the development of long range public health programs in Haiti. CDC staff members are assisting with surveillance of health conditions being diagnosed and treated in health facilities across Haiti. Data on communicable diseases is currently being collected to assess numbers and types of injury, diarrheal diseases, suspected typhoid fever, suspected malaria cases, and surgical procedures. Working with Haitian health officials and international partners, CDC staff are conducting on-going analyzes of data submissions. Results of facilities-based surveillance are being combined with information collected by other international partners and used to prioritize public health interventions, project resources needed by health care facilities as they care for patients, and assist in long-range planning for the reconstruction of the country's health care system.

CDC is also assisting federal and state partners to assess health conditions and needs of U.S. citizens repatriating from Haiti to the U.S., medical evacuees, Haitian orphans in the adoption process with U.S. families, and new immigrants to the U.S. CDC quarantine station staff members are collaborating with partners including Customs and Border Protection and state health departments to do visual screening of those returning from Haiti to try to help ensure anyone who is ill gets proper medical attention. Currently almost 25,000 repatriates have returned to the US from Haiti, more than 700 orphans have traveled to the US as part of the adoption process, and more than 500 medical evacuees have traveled from Haiti to the US.

CDC has developed public health guidance and communication materials that can be used by clinicians, relief workers, and affected communities in Haiti. CDC has provided information for a number of groups affected by the Haiti earthquake including repatriating citizens, people adopting children from Haiti, relief workers and responders, and clinicians treating patients in and from Haiti New resources have recently been posted to assist people who had limbs amputated following the Haiti earthquake and the clinicians who are caring for these new amputees. These resources include “Fact Sheet for Patients after Amputations or Other Surgeries” for clinicians and a document entitled “How can I take care of my new arm or leg?”