“When I heard the news, I panicked”: Mother and baby separated in Haiti
Escalating violence between armed groups in Cité Soleil, an area of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has forced over 10,000 people to flee their neighbourhoods. People’s ability to access essential medical care has been sharply restricted.
Sterline lives in Cité Soleil. Throughout her pregnancy, she received care at the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity Hospital, which is supported by Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF). She was separated from her newborn daughter during an emergency evacuation of a referral hospital that was caught in crossfire.
Sterline has barely slept. It has been five days since she has seen her newborn baby. She only thinks about finding her baby. The separation happened so soon after birth, Sterline hasn't had time to give her daughter a name.
“I just want to get my daughter back as soon as possible and hold her in my arms,” she says to an MSF team at the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity, where she came 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 Centre, 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.”
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Evacuation
Faced with the intensity of the violence, Fontaine Hospital Centre temporarily suspended its activities, along with an MSF hospital nearby. To keep people safe while the hospital was caught in crossfire, 32 patients, including newborns like Sterline’s baby, were evacuated to another facility, 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 Isaïe Jeanty Maternity Hospital, to ask for help.”
Insecurity has severely disrupted movement in the area. However, MSF teams were able to trace the newborn’s whereabouts and re-establish contact between health facilities.
Sterline was eventually told where her baby was, but due to her condition, she still couldn't touch her. Her daughter remained under close medical monitoring.
“I could only look at her through the glass of the neonatal unit,” Sterline says. “I couldn’t yet hold her in my arms.”
A happy reunion amid ongoing violence
After five days of anguish, and with the support of MSF teams coordinating between facilities, they were finally reunited and Sterline was able to hold her daughter again. The baby remains hospitalised, as her condition is still fragile.
Cité Soleil is one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince. Around 300,000 people live in this small area with limited access to essential services, including healthcare. Supported by MSF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity hospital was one of the few functioning health facilities in the neighbourhood, serving as a vital point of care for thousands of women.
Since Sterline was reunited with her daughter, armed violence in Cité Soleil continues to disrupt daily life and restrict people’s access to healthcare.
Update: Since the night of 13 June, violence has been escalating around the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity Hospital in Cité Soleil. Caught in the crossfire and facing an untenable situation, the teams have been forced to suspend their medical activities from 19 June. Learn more >
MSF in Haiti
An ongoing political and economic crisis in Haiti has led to high levels of chronic violence and insecurity, including armed clashes, robberies and kidnappings affecting people throughout the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Our teams in Haiti work year-round in very challenging conditions, and include specialists in burns and trauma care, reproductive health and the treatment and support of survivors of sexual violence.