Aid to Haiti can present problems, local panel says

Giving aid to Haiti could cause a “second disaster,” one health expert has… Giving aid to Haiti could cause a “second disaster,” one health expert has said.

Last night, nine experts debated the best ways to properly aid Haitians at a panel organized by Joanne Russell, the director of Pitt’s Center for Global Health. The experts, whose specialties included medicine, philanthropy and international affairs, agreed that Americans should rethink how they provide relief to disaster-stricken countries.

In the immediate aftermath of last month’s Haitian earthquake, there was an extraordinary outpouring of support for the country, already the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. But it’s possible this aid could cause more harm than good, Russell said.

“All of a sudden, well-intended people send things or arrive on the ground to help. It can actually siphon away resources that are needed in the emergency,” Russell said. “Often, these countries don’t have a place to store these goods. They have to spend money on storage containers for it, or they don’t have a way to distribute goods.”

In many cases, these donations are useless in the situation, she said. People sometimes send powdered baby formula to victims who don’t have access to clean water or heavy blankets and coats to people living in warm climates.

Panelist Kathleen Hower related her own experiences with well-intentioned but unhelpful donations. She’s the co-founder and director of Global Links, a Pittsburgh organization that reclaims unused medical supplies for redistribution in developing countries.

For instance, people see news reports of Haitians needing water and collect bottles of water. Then they call her office after learning the Red Cross only takes financial donations.

“I say, ‘No, drink the water and send us money,’” Hower said.

Other problems arise because the international community often isn’t prepared to coordinate relief efforts between nations and relief organizations, some panelists said. In those cases, the aid can actually become counterproductive.

“We have 650 international organizations, 60 on health problems, and this is completely disorganized,” Paulo Teixeira said.Teixeira serves as the regional officer of urban health for the Pan American Health Organization, a regional office of the World Health Organization that promotes the improvement of health and living standards in the Americas.

Louise Comfort, a professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, said the United Nations’ new cluster approach can help alleviate the problem. Under this method, the United Nations groups organizations according to the type of aid they provide. Those groups then report to a lead organization.

“People have recognized before that this could work, but we now have the communications structure to do this,” Comfort said.

But it’s often hard to keep the aid coming. People tend to stop focusing on devastated countries after they send their initial donations of money or goods. But countries still need aid during for the rebuilding process, which is critical for recovery.

Because it is one of the world’s poorest countries, Haiti will struggle more than some others would.

The country must alter its building codes to protect against future quakes, build infrastructure and restore education to a country with a 64 percent illiteracy rate, panelists said. This will be a hard task, since the government hordes the nation’s wealth, Steven Williams, medical director of Green Tree Medical Associates, said.

But Comfort hasn’t lost hope.

“The international spotlight is on Haiti,” Comfort said. “One only needs to look at the significant change that happened in 1985 in Mexico City or Indonesia in 2004. I’m very optimistic.”

Teixeira suggested that universities could help by adopting a town. Universities, he said, have very specialized knowledge that can help people better understand the problems they face and develop solutions to those problems.

Other panelists included Kathleen Buechel, director of the GSPIA Philanthropy Forum, Mary Carrasco, director of international and community health at Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Kent Harries, professor of engineering and Samuel Stebbins, professor of epidemiology.