A mother and newborn reunite amid insecurity in Haiti

For over two weeks, escalating violence between armed groups in Cité Soleil, an area of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has forced over ten thousand people to flee their neighbourhoods¹ and disrupted local health services. People’s ability to access essential medical care – including patient referrals – has been sharply restricted. 

Sterline, a resident of Cité Soleil, is among those affected by the persistent insecurity. Throughout her pregnancy, she received care at the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity hospital, which is supported by Médecins sans Frontières MSF). She recounts how she was separated from her newborn daughter during an emergency evacuation of a referral hospital, that was caught in crossfire.  

Sterline barely slept. It has been five days since she has seen her newborn baby. She only thought about finding her baby*.  

I just want to get my daughter back as soon as possible and hold her in my arms,” she says, confiding to an MSF team at the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity, where she has come looking for help to be reunited with her daughter. 

On 4 May, Sterline arrived at the maternity ward in early labour. Medical teams quickly identified complications: a high-risk delivery requiring a caesarean section, as well as specialised care for a premature baby. She was urgently referred to Fontaine Hospital Center, a hospital within MSF’s referral network and one of the few facilities in Port-au-Prince able to provide neonatal care for preterm infants. 

“A few days later, I was discharged, but my daughter remained hospitalised in the neonatal unit,” Sterline says. “Between my mother, my grandmother and me, we took turns visiting her every day.”  

Six days later, violent clashes erupted in Cité Soleil, in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. As gunfire intensified, residents were forced to flee. 

“That day, my grandmother was visiting the hospital,” Sterline recalls. “When the shooting got closer, everyone started running and evacuating. In the panic and crowds, she couldn’t reach the neonatal unit to get my baby.” 

Faced with the intensity of the violence, Fontaine Hospital Center temporarily suspend its activities, along with an MSF hospital nearby. To keep people safe while the hospital was caught in crossfire, thirty-two patients, including newborns like Sterline’s baby, were evacuated to another facility for their safety, without relatives present.  

“When I heard the news, I panicked,” says Sterline. “We tried to go back to the hospital, but it was impossible because of the gunfire. I tried calling but could not get through. So, we came here, to Chancerelles [Isaïe Jeanty Maternity hospital], to ask for help.”  

Insecurity has severely disrupted movement and referral pathways in the area. In this context, MSF teams were able to trace the newborn’s whereabouts and re‑establish contact between health facilities. 

*The separation happened so soon after birth, Sterline did not yet have time to give her daughter a name before the ordeal began.