E-DRUG: Promess Warehouse: Matching the World's medical donations to HAITI's needs
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News and Public Information
PORT-AU-PRINCE, January 31, 2010 - To meet the enormous health challenges
posed by the January 12 earthquake, Haitian authorities, United Nations
agencies and donor countries have been providing tons of medicines to scores
of health partners on a daily basis through a large-scale coordinated effort
run out of the country's pharmaceuticals hub in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
From 16-21 January alone, 483,091 kg of pharmaceutical supplies and 4,990 kg
of non-pharmaceutical health supplies, like rubber gloves and masks, arrived
at Port-au-Prince airport.
Organizing these donations through Haiti's central pharmaceutical store,
known as PROMESS (Program on Essential Medicine and Supplies), is one of the
least visible but more vital tasks for humanitarian workers following the
earthquake.
“Without PROMESS we would have had a second catastrophe,” Dr. Alex Larsen,
Haitian Minister of Health, said at the PROMESS warehouse.
Operations for the World Health Organization (WHO)/Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO) country office were run out of PROMESS and in days
following the quake. When roads were blocked with rubble, WHO/PAHO staff
went on foot carrying drugs from PROMESS to deliver them to UN and
nongovernmental organization partners working in health.
As the humanitarian operation intensified, more and more shipments of
medical supplies started arriving at Port-au-Prince airport, located close
to PROMESS. To meet the increased logistical challenges, WHO/PAHO is running
a programme to coordinate all donations from many governments, including the
United States, into a single system to ensure medicines are delivered as
quickly as possible to where they are needed.
"Trying to both respond to the massive health needs in Haiti following the
quake and organize the large volume of supplies entering the country has
been a great challenge," according to WHO/PAHO representative in Haiti, Dr
Henriette Chamouillet. "Many partners, including the United
Statesgovernment who we are with today, have been extremely generous
in their response to the great humanitarian health needs of the Haitian people."
PROMESS has long been supplying medicines and related supplies to health
facilities throughout Haiti. Following the quake, PROMESS was virtually the
only source of drugs and medical supplies in the country, and there was a
dramatic increase in demand from established health facilities and from
temporary field hospitals that had mobilized to support the relief effort.
But as medical donations began streaming into Haiti, so did the need to
streamline the truckloads of material arriving daily at PROMESS, and to
distribute it to where it was needed most. The U.S. Government has provided
professional support in the form of pharmacists and medical logisticians,
working with WHO/PAHO in receiving goods, sorting them, checking expiry
dates and getting them onto the shelves; security to ensure that fuel
reaches hospitals to run electricity generators, and security of the
compound so that PROMESS can continue to provide an essential function;
engineering support such as clearing rubble and leveling land for incoming
containers of medical supplies; and logistical support for getting drugs to
hospitals that are difficult to reach.
“We are working in concert with Haitians, other donors, groups and the Pan
American Health Organization to plan and support health system requirements,
including health and medical supplies,” said Judith Timyan, USAID Health
Team Leader. “We are not only expediting the distribution of medicines and
equipment for clinics and hospitals, but also building local Haitian
capacity to effectively manage the supply chain for the health system in the
future.”
As PROMESS becomes more effectively organized to respond to these new
challenges, the Haitian government, WHO/PAHO and USAID have been visiting
organizations, hospitals and clinics throughout Haiti to assess medicine
shortages and link the facilities to the PROMESS warehouse.
“We appreciate what everyone around the world is doing,” said a worker in
the PROMESS warehouse, LCDR Fortin Georges, a senior pharmacist with the
U.S. Public Health Service, who was born in Haiti. “I want to thank the
world. Haiti thanks you, thanks you very much.”
For more information on WHO’s activities in Haiti, contact Olivia
Lawe-Davies, mobile + 509 3483 3121, email: **lawedavieso@who.int** –
http://www.who.int/<http://webmail\.cpc\.paho\.org/exchweb/bin/redir\.asp?URL=http://www.who.int/>
For more information on PAHO, contact Daniel Epstein, mobile +1 202 316
5679, email: epsteind@paho.org, or Donna Eberwine-Villagran, tel. +1 202
974 3122, email: eberwind@paho.org,–
www.paho.org<http://webmail.cpc.paho.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.paho.org/>
To contact the U.S. Government Joint Information Center in Haiti, email:
HaitiJIC@USAID.gov
Adriana Ivama <adriana.ivama@gmail.com>