Q Life Magazine Q Magazine (US) December 2015 | Page 67

Humanitarian Aid |
How do you bring aid to an impoverished
country that has just been devastated by one
of the worst natural disasters in recent history?
The State of Qatar had to find enterprising
answers to that question after it pledged $20 million
to the reconstruction of Haiti in the wake of the
catastrophic earthquake of 2010. The pledge soon
became the Qatar Haiti Fund (QHF).
H
aiti’s already poor infrastructure was pummeled
by the quake, explains Don Salzman, a lawyer
at Skadden and one of the Fund’s pro bono counsels.
“People in the mountains have very limited access to
health care, for instance,” he says. To get into the most
remote areas, the QHF provided $2 million to Partners
in Health, to create mobile health care clinics uniquely
suited to the inaccessible terrain.
“They repurposed SUVs and motorcycles that can
handle the roads,” Salzman explains. “These allow them
to bring primary care services and vaccines to people
with very limited resources.”
Like the Qatar Katrina Fund, which it emulated,
QHF focuses on three areas: housing, health, and
education. Through infrastructure development
projects and youth empowerment, it has helped restore
communities and safeguard the Caribbean country
from future natural disasters.
A second medical project is Hospital Albert
Schweitzer, in central Haiti, which received $87,000
to fund training programs, buy supplies, and create
internal pr