Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the renowned international medical charity, has announced the indefinite closure of its emergency care center in Turgeau, a neighborhood in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The decision, made public on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, marks a somber milestone in the city’s ongoing battle with rampant gang violence and deepening instability. For years, the MSF center had been a critical lifeline for thousands of Haitians, but escalating threats to staff and patients have made continued operation impossible.
According to MSF’s Head of Mission in Haiti, Jean-Marc Biquet, the closure was a “last resort” after months of mounting violence that threatened the safety of everyone inside. The center had already experienced a temporary shutdown in March 2025 when armed men opened fire on four MSF vehicles as they evacuated personnel from the facility. While some staff received minor injuries, the incident underscored the perilous environment that had come to define daily life in Port-au-Prince. “The building has already been hit several times by stray bullets due to its location close to the combat zones, which would make resuming activities too dangerous for both patients and staff,” Biquet explained, as reported by Euronews.
The consequences of the closure are severe. With more than 60% of Port-au-Prince’s health facilities—including the city’s general hospital—now closed or non-functional, access to essential medical services is vanishing. MSF’s Turgeau emergency center, which originally opened in the Martissant neighborhood in 2006 before relocating for security reasons in 2021, had treated over 100,000 patients from 2021 to March 2025. Its loss leaves a gaping hole in the already fragile healthcare infrastructure of a city where criminal gangs now control about 90% of the territory, according to United Nations data.
The closure is not just a blow to healthcare access; it’s a reflection of a much broader crisis. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, Haiti has been gripped by spiraling violence. From January to June 2025 alone, more than 3,100 people were killed and 1,100 injured across the country, the United Nations reported. Displacement has surged as well, with a record 1.4 million people forced from their homes by early October 2025—a staggering 36% increase since the end of 2024, as noted by the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM). Makeshift shelters have multiplied, jumping from 142 in December 2024 to 238 so far this year.
In the words of Biquet, the closure will have a “very negative impact for people” in the city. “That part of the city, so close to the city centre, there are no medical facilities available or affordable for the Haitian population. That is why you have so many IDPs [internally displaced people] living in sites in such bad conditions,” he said, highlighting the desperate situation faced by many residents.
Despite the arrival in June 2025 of a Kenya-led, UN-backed multinational security force, observers and aid organizations say the intervention has done little to stem the tide of violence. Armed gangs remain firmly entrenched, and the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen. The UN Human Rights Office reported that over 5,600 people were killed in Haiti in 2024, a 20% increase from the previous year.
Yet, amid these grim developments, there is a faint glimmer of hope. MSF, in partnership with Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP), has supported the reopening of the Isaïe Jeanty maternity hospital, one of the largest in Port-au-Prince. The hospital, located in the especially isolated area of Cité Soleil, had been forced to close during a wave of violence in early 2024. Its gradual reopening at the end of that year has been a lifeline for women and newborns in a city where maternal and infant mortality rates are among the highest in the Caribbean and Latin America.
“Every woman deserves a safe place to give birth, yet this basic right is too often denied. This is why reopening Isaïe Jeanty maternity hospital, in an especially isolated area such as Cité Soleil, is absolutely crucial,” said Diana Manilla Arroyo, MSF’s country director, as quoted by Doctors Without Borders. The hospital now provides essential services including pre- and post-natal care, contraception, treatment for sexually transmitted infections, obstetric surgery, and critical care for survivors of sexual violence.
The need is overwhelming. Between February 2022 and April 2025, the ratio of maternal deaths in Haitian hospitals rose from 250 to 350 per 100,000 live births, driven by increasing violence and the collapse of health services. Nearly 60% of births in Port-au-Prince currently occur without medical care, raising the risk of life-threatening complications such as hemorrhage, infections, and hypertension. “Because of the growing insecurity, several health facilities have shut down, reducing the availability of sexual and reproductive healthcare,” Arroyo noted.
Since the beginning of 2025, the Isaïe Jeanty hospital’s activity has steadily increased. Prenatal consultations soared from just 56 in January to 547 in July, and deliveries jumped from 10 in April to 134 in August. The hospital has also provided care to nearly 220 survivors of sexual violence between March and September. The opening of a temporary operating room enabled 18 surgeries in July, 37 in August, and 45 in September, with plans underway to establish two permanent operating rooms.
The hospital’s revival is not just about providing immediate care—it’s also about building for the future. Isaïe Jeanty serves as a crucial training ground for the next generation of obstetric healthcare professionals, strengthening the capacity of Haiti’s beleaguered health system. As Arroyo put it, “Haiti is trapped in a devastating cycle of sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies and high-risk pregnancies, undermining the most fundamental reproductive health decisions—to choose if, when and with whom to have a child. With one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region and a collapsing health system, access to safe care remains out of reach for many. Every woman and girl should have the right to live free from violence and to have control over her body, health and future.”
Still, the challenges are enormous. The risk of violence remains ever-present, and the city’s health infrastructure is stretched to the breaking point. While the reopening of Isaïe Jeanty is a testament to resilience and partnership, the indefinite closure of MSF’s emergency center in Turgeau is a stark reminder of the dangers that persist. For Port-au-Prince’s three million residents, the struggle for safety and basic healthcare continues, with no easy solutions in sight.
As Haiti endures one of its darkest periods in recent memory, the fate of its most vulnerable citizens hangs in the balance. The choices made by organizations like MSF—and the support they receive—will shape the future of health and hope in a city under siege.