According to a study by the Organization of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the Department of Public Health and Population (MSPP), the pregnancy rate has tripled in Haiti in the IDP camps.

Bidegain Gabriel, the expert from the UNFPA, who led the research, said that the pregnancy rate is generally 4% in urban areas but in the camps that rate is 12%.

"Between December and next January, we expect a significant number of birth" indicated the expert that expresses his concern in his report, face to the scheduled departure of a number of NGOs involved in health who left the country at the end of this year. A perspective which he believes portends an increased rate of maternal and infant mortality if nothing is done.

Without really explaining the cause of this increase, Gabriel Bidegain said that 63% of households living in IDP camps are headed by women, while 54% of families in the rest of the country are headed by men. He rejected the idea in his report that the cause is the result of rape in the camps, ensuring that the level of violence remains substantially the same before and after earthquake [± 1%]. He accuses the media of "media manipulation aimed at bringing the Haitian rapists and thieves". According to this expert, the crime rate related to gender violence in these camps, is lower than all major cities in Latin America.

Should we see then, in this high percentage of women head of family in the camps, the cause of the increase of pregnancy ?

BF/ HaitiLibre