UN alerts about 3,000 pregnant women at risk as gang violence plunges Haiti into a ‘standstill’

The UN issued a warning Friday, stating that as humanitarian conditions in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, continued to worsen, up to 3,000 pregnant women in Haiti risk losing access to vital medical care.

Last week, gang violence gripped the long-struggling Caribbean country, prompting alerts from relief organizations about a scarcity of medical resources and personnel.

“If greater Port-au-Prince remains at a standstill in the coming weeks, almost 3,000 pregnant women could be denied access to essential health care, and almost 450 could face life-threatening obstetric complications if they do not receive medical assistance,” the United Nations office in Haiti said in a statement on Friday.

The Haiti crisis has drawn concern from the US which has told the country’s absent Prime Minister Ariel Henry to enact “urgent” political reform to prevent further escalation.

Criminal groups, which already control much of the capital as well as roads leading to the rest of the country, have attacked key infrastructure in recent days, including two prisons, allowing the majority of their 3,800 inmates to escape.

The gangs, along with some ordinary Haitians, are seeking the resignation of Henry, who was due to leave office in February but instead agreed to a power-sharing deal with the opposition until new elections are held.

Henry was in Kenya when the violence broke out and has since been unable to return to Haiti, reportedly stranded instead in Puerto Rico.