The skies had just begun to clear when I landed in Kingston three days after Hurricane Melissa’s devastating path through the eastern Caribbean. What greeted me wasn’t just destruction, but an intricate emergency health operation already underway.
“We’re facing a triple threat,” Dr. Carissa Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), told me as we surveyed a makeshift medical facility. “Contaminated water supplies, damaged healthcare infrastructure, and the onset of vector-borne diseases that thrive in standing water.”
Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm last week, has left an estimated 400,000 people across Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic with limited or no access to healthcare services. The immediate aftermath has triggered PAHO’s most comprehensive emergency health response in the region since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Walking through eastern Jamaica’s Portland Parish, I witnessed PAHO’s Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) working alongside local health authorities. These specialized units have established six field hospitals across the hardest-hit areas, with particular focus on rural communities where road access remains severely compromised.
“We’re seeing everything from traumatic injuries to waterborne illnesses,” explained Dr. Miguel Gonzalez, who leads one of PAHO’s EMTs in Jamaica. “But what concerns us most are the long-term health implications if we don’t restore basic sanitation and medical infrastructure quickly.”
PAHO has mobilized over $4.2 million in emergency funding and deployed 76 health specialists across affected islands. The organization’s response follows a three-phase approach: immediate trauma care, disease surveillance to prevent outbreaks, and health system restoration.
The hurricane’s impact has been particularly severe in Haiti, where the health system was already fragile following years of political instability and the 2021 earthquake. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), approximately 40% of Haiti’s southern medical facilities have sustained significant damage.
“We’ve never seen such a rapid deployment of health resources,” said Gertrude Antoine, Haiti’s Acting Minister of Public Health, during our meeting in Port-au-Prince. “But the need still exceeds our capacity, especially in remote communities.”
What makes PAHO’s current response notable is its emphasis on digital health solutions. The organization has implemented a mobile disease surveillance system that allows health workers to report outbreaks via secure messaging platforms, even in areas with limited connectivity.
The World Health Organization has identified dengue fever, cholera, and leptospirosis as immediate health threats following the hurricane. Standing water creates ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes, while damaged water treatment facilities increase the risk of waterborne diseases.
“We’re already seeing a 27% increase in suspected dengue cases compared to pre-hurricane levels,” Dr. Sebastian Oliel, PAHO’s Communicable Diseases specialist, told me while reviewing surveillance data. “Our response now will determine whether we can prevent a secondary public health crisis.”
In the Dominican Republic, where power has been restored to most major hospitals, PAHO is focusing on rural clinics and preventative measures. The organization has distributed 50,000 mosquito nets and established water quality monitoring at 112 sites.
Local communities are playing a crucial role in the response. In Jamaica’s St. Thomas Parish, I met Claudine Barrows, a community health worker trained under a PAHO program before the hurricane.
“Before the international teams arrived, we were already implementing emergency protocols we’d practiced,” Barrows explained as she demonstrated proper water chlorination techniques to residents. “This preparation saved lives.”
PAHO’s response reflects lessons learned from previous Caribbean disasters. After Hurricane Maria, the organization developed a “resilient health facilities” initiative, strengthening structural integrity and establishing emergency protocols for Caribbean hospitals.
“The facilities that followed our resilience guidelines suffered 60% less damage during Melissa,” noted Dr. Etienne. “But we’re still seeing critical gaps, particularly in backup power systems and water storage capacity.”
The United States has contributed $15 million toward the overall hurricane response, with approximately one-third earmarked for health interventions. The European Union has pledged an additional €5 million specifically for PAHO’s emergency health operations.
Yet challenges remain. At a temporary clinic in Haiti’s Nippes region, I observed healthcare workers struggling with medication shortages. “We have the expertise but lack consistent supplies,” explained Dr. Marie Jolivert, a Haitian physician working alongside PAHO specialists.
Climate experts have warned that hurricanes like Melissa may become more common as ocean temperatures rise. This has pushed PAHO to emphasize climate resilience in health infrastructure planning.
The organization plans to maintain its enhanced presence in the region for at least six months, gradually transitioning from emergency response to system rebuilding. This includes rehabilitating damaged facilities and training additional local health workers in disaster response.
As I prepared to leave Kingston, I watched a PAHO supply plane arrive carrying essential medicines and water purification equipment. The coordinated effort I witnessed offers hope, but the road to full recovery will be long.
“This isn’t just about restoring what existed before,” Dr. Etienne emphasized. “It’s about building health systems that can withstand the next storm—because we know it’s coming.”
