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Haiti

PWRDF Development Project

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For more than 25 years, Partners In Health (PIH/ZL) has worked to improve women’s quality of life by providing comprehensive, community-based health care in rural Haiti where, in most cases, medical services were not previously available. Gender-based violence (GBV) is a serious health and human rights issue in Haiti. Although women are known as the central pillars of the family and community, they are the most at-risk members. Access to care, health, psychosocial and legal remedies is limited by lack of resources, political will, economic insecurity, and gender power imbalances. In 2017, the project tracked 896 cases across the six project sites of Hinche, Mirebalais, Belladere, Verrettes, Petite-Riviere and St-Marc. Of all cases reported, about half were classified as either physical abuse or psychological abuse, followed by sexual abuse, and the remainder 50% were sexual violence. From July 2017 – Jan. 2018, the project saw 349 cases of gender-based violence, including 162 categorized as sexual violence, 186 cases of physical violence and one case of psychological violence. Seventy-seven cases of sexual violence were committed against girls 15 and younger.