Improving breastfeeding practices during a major emergency: lessons from the baby tents in Haiti

On 12 January 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit Haiti. Its epicentre was close to Port-au-Prince, the capital city. Overall, about 3 million people, or 30% of the country’s population, were affected – half of them children.

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The rate of exclusive breastfeeding (21.7%) in the city was the lowest in the country even before the earthquake and there was fear that breastfeeding practices would be further jeopardized during the emergency.

In collaboration with local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the Haitian health ministry and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) established baby tents (points de conseils en nutrition pour bébés [infant nutrition counselling units]) throughout the areas affected by the earthquake. Similar smaller initiatives, described elsewhere, had been launched in Bosnia, Kenya, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania in response to various types of emergencies.

These initiatives helped to inform Haiti’s response, but Haiti’s baby tent programme was the world’s largest coordinated response of its kind in an emergency context. 

In this article the authors describe Haiti’s baby tent strategy, the results achieved, the challenges encountered and some potential ways to address these challenges.