Latin American and Caribbean support and a call for South-South cooperation with the new Minister of Public Health in Haiti, Dr. Sinal Bertrand
From the regional platform of CLACSO Working Group on International Health and Health Sovereignty We welcome the appointment of our colleague and research associate Dr. Sinal Bertrand as the new Minister of Public Health and Population of Haiti (MSPP), at a complex and critical moment for the Caribbean country.
Sinal Bertrand He is a prominent member of the Haitian branch of the CLACSO International Health Working Group since 2018. A family physician and graduate of ELAM (Latin American School of Medicine, Cuba), he served as director of the Port Salut Departmental Hospital, was a two-term member of the Haitian Parliament, and Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (MSPP) from 2022 to 2024. Dr. Bertrand is a public health specialist trained in International Health through the CLACSO Postgraduate Network and holds a diploma in Health Management, Policies, and Systems from CLACSO/FLACSO. He has participated in numerous CLACSO activities, conferences, and forums in recent years.
Dr. Bertrand's new administration at MSPP takes over a complex context of multiple crises in a country with armed criminal gangs operating over the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, while at the same time more than 5700 violent deaths and more than 700.000 people displaced from their homes were recorded in 2024, with kidnappings and violent deaths affecting daily life and democracy in the country.
This context has severely impacted the field of public health emergencies in Haiti:
- This has led to disruptions in strategic fuel and medical supply chains, resulting in a lack of access to medicines, medical supplies, and maintenance of healthcare technology in health facilities. It has also created difficulties for ambulance transport and emergency medical responses due to both fuel shortages and security concerns.
- Closure of public and private hospitals and health centers, especially in the metropolitan area, due to the security crisis and the flight of the population from areas of organized crime.
- The mass migration of specialized health professionals deepens the chronic weakening of health services and public capacities of the Ministry of Health and Public Health.
- Chronic epidemiological crises that worsen (Cholera, maternal health, mortality, respiratory infections, HIV, TB, among others).
- Human mobility crisis in the border region with the Dominican Republic and racial-administrative migratory access barriers for women on their maternal health routes as well as access to health for Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic.
In this sense, from the CLACSO Working Group on International Health and Health Sovereignty We call upon public health academies and allied social movements in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as government and ministerial authorities, especially in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Honduras, Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia, and CARICOM, to strengthen South-South cooperation in health with Haiti on the path to rebuilding public capacities and health sovereignty, seeking to respond to the complex epidemiological and health crises currently facing the Haitian people on their journey to recover a dignified, safe, and democratic life.
January 27, 2025
CLACSO Working Groups
International health and health sovereignty
This statement expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
