Disaster clinics become Haiti's maternity wards

GONAIVES, Haiti - There was no baby shower for Guirlene Mondestin - no swaddling clothes, no cradle, no toys.

The hospital where her baby was to be born is still covered in mud nearly a month after Tropical Storm Jeanne devastated the island, so instead the baby was delivered at a Uruguayan military clinic set up to deal with postdisaster medical emergencies.

In storm-ravaged Gonaives, the clinic has become a baby factory, with up to five deliveries a day.

At the clinic, 27-year-old Mondestin lay on a bare mattress, her baby boy wrapped in towels at her side.

"Now I'm feeling sad," she sighed, wondering about the future of her second child in this tragedy-trapped nation of 8-million. "Where I live, there are a lot of dead people and animals. There's a bad smell and lots of bugs. It's a bad environment for a baby."

According to UNICEF, Haiti's child mortality rate is the worst in the Western Hemisphere - with eight in 100 not living beyond 5 years old - and the sixth worst in the world after Sierra Leone, Niger, Angola, Afghanistan and Somalia.

The situation has been compounded by the flood woes.

To Mondestin, this is all part of a terrible curse on Haiti. "I just pray for mercy - for me and my children, Gonaives and Haiti," she whispered.

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright