Doctors Without Borders said it was suspending services at a clinic in Bel Air, a violent neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, because clashes continued between police and armed groups.
The group said the suspension followed violence that trapped seven community volunteers at the clinic for several hours on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. MSF said one former volunteer was seriously injured and died at the building’s gate.
“This situation is not an isolated case,” the organization said in a statement.
The suspension is a blow to Bel Air because MSF offered what it described as the only medical services available in that area of Port-au-Prince, where it served several thousand patients each month, AP reported. MSF began working in Bel Air in 2022 and has previously suspended services because of violence.
AP reported that Bel Air is largely controlled by the Krache Dife gang, which is part of a broader gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm, meaning “Living Together.” The AP report said MSF’s decision highlights the risks humanitarian groups face when fighting spreads in the capital.
In October, AP reported, MSF announced it was closing its emergency care center in another area of Port-au-Prince because of ongoing violence. AP also said Haiti’s capital is now 90% controlled by gangs.
AP reported that around 60% of health facilities in Port-au-Prince are closed or nonfunctioning, including Haiti’s general hospital. It cited the United Nations as reporting that from July to September at least 1,247 people were killed across Haiti and another 710 were injured.
The AP report said ongoing violence has also displaced more than 1.4 million people across the Caribbean country in recent years.
The Associated Press said a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police officers is helping an understaffed and underfunded Haitian police department fight gangs, and that it is transitioning into a “so-called gang suppression force” with power to arrest suspected gang members. The report said the initial mission launched in mid-2024, and that by late 2025 it still had less than half the personnel envisioned and only 14% of the estimated $800 million it needed annually.