The United Nations Development Program and Brazil are teaming up to improve public health and track infectious diseases in Haiti. The project aims to boost public health infrastructure and monitor the spread of diseases in the Caribbean nation. Brazil has allocated USD76.7 million for the project.
The Inter-American Development Bank and other major donors say that private sector participation is necessary to rebuild Haiti. The quake-hit country, however, is finding it hard to attract foreign private investments.
“Major new investment is still in the wait-and-see status,” Mark Schneider, a senior analyst at International Crisis Group, told AlertNet. “There are limited commitments from investors.”
Haiti’s infrastructure, power grid and main port in Port-au-Prince are still nonoperational six months after the earthquake.
“Things are not moving as fast as anyone wants,” Schneider said.
He added: “Haitians need to see reconstruction mechanisms, like the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, actually functioning in a visible way, projects being approved and aid money being spent. They also need to see some economic investment that begins to show itself in a visible way to both micro and macro-businesses.”
Meanwhile, key World Bank officials are set to visit Haiti this week. World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean Pamela Cox will travel to the nation to review the strides made in rehabilitation. The two World Bank officials will meet with Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and other high-level officials.
The World Bank has pledged USD479 million through June 2011 for Haiti, more than half of which has already been made available.
