CDC Responds to the Haiti Earthquake

UPDATE: This information is current as of March 5, 2010, 4:00 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 March 5, 2010, 308 CDC staff members are currently engaged in response activities, of these 15 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 is providing malaria-related technical assistance as malaria due to ongoing concerns as the rainy season approaches. See http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5908a1.htm for the most recent report of malaria cases in Haiti. A CDC epidemiologist will be in Haiti to assess malaria diagnostic and treatment medications. CDC has donated about 6000 malaria rapid-diagnostic tests. In addition, two CDC entomologists are working with the Haiti Ministry of Heath on vector-control activities.

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 French and English public health guidance and communication materials that can be used by clinicians, relief workers, and affected communities in Haiti such as “Guidance for Relief Worker and Others,” “Health Recommendations for Relief Workers,” Make Water Safe to Drink,” and “TB Guidance for Haiti Earthquake Responders,” These and other translated resources can be found at http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/earthquakes/fr/ and http://emergencydev.cdc.gov/disasters/earthquakes/chi/.