MSF suspends services in Haiti’s Isaïe Jeanty Maternity Hospital
View of a courtyard inside the Maternity Isaïe Jeanty, the only public maternity hospital in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince. MSF has been supporting its rehabilitation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, to provide sexual and reproductive health services, including obstetric surgery. Haiti, June 2026.
Key Points(5)
- Since the night of June 13–14, violence has intensified across several neighbourhoods, including Belekou, Fort-Dimanche, and Wharf Jérémie, as clashes between multiple armed groups spread through the area.
- Gunfire has reportedly struck the hospital itself in the Chancerelles neighbourhood, triggering panic, displacement and an increasingly unsafe environment for patients and staff.
- MSF said that over the course of five days, the facility became caught in the crossfire as insecurity worsened.
- On June 15, more than 100 people—mostly women and children—fleeing nearby fighting sought refuge inside the maternity hospital, also asking for access to water and shelter.
- During that incident, one woman was injured in the leg by a stray bullet inside the hospital grounds and was stabilised by MSF teams on site.
Escalating armed violence in Haiti’s capital has forced medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to suspend all activities at the Isaïe Jeanty Maternity Hospital in Cité Soleil, leaving thousands of women with almost no access to maternal and reproductive healthcare in one of the most densely populated areas of Port-au-Prince.
Since the night of June 13–14, violence has intensified across several neighbourhoods, including Belekou, Fort-Dimanche, and Wharf Jérémie, as clashes between multiple armed groups spread through the area. Gunfire has reportedly struck the hospital itself in the Chancerelles neighbourhood, triggering panic, displacement and an increasingly unsafe environment for patients and staff.
MSF said that over the course of five days, the facility became caught in the crossfire as insecurity worsened. On June 15, more than 100 people—mostly women and children—fleeing nearby fighting sought refuge inside the maternity hospital, also asking for access to water and shelter.
During that incident, one woman was injured in the leg by a stray bullet inside the hospital grounds and was stabilised by MSF teams on site. The organization also reported that its MSF hospital in Tabarre treated additional people injured in the wider clashes.
Despite continuing emergency care and patient stabilisation with reduced capacity, MSF said the situation deteriorated further, making it impossible to maintain operations. Authorities were reportedly forced to suspend activities the following morning, and by June 19 MSF had evacuated staff and fully suspended services.
MSF head of mission in Haiti Nicholas Tessier said the team had attempted to maintain lifesaving support despite limited resources, including treating women who reached the facility under fire—among them a mother who gave birth to twins. However, he said the hospital was “riddled with bullet holes” and ambulances were increasingly unable to move patients or find safe referral destinations.
The suspension is particularly severe for Cité Soleil, home to around 300,000 residents, where access to healthcare—especially for women—is already extremely limited. MSF warned that many expectant mothers are now forced to give birth at home in unsafe conditions, significantly increasing the risk of complications and maternal deaths.
The organization noted that it had already been forced to temporarily suspend activities at another nearby Cité Soleil hospital in May, underscoring a broader collapse of medical access in the area as insecurity spreads.
MSF is urging all armed actors to respect civilians and ensure the protection of healthcare facilities, warning that continued fighting is pushing an already fragile health system in Port-au-Prince toward a critical breaking point.
