New updates from the Hopkins team in Haiti

Don't miss the new updates from Dr. Tom Kirsh and his team members who are contributing to the relief effort in Haiti.

Tracy Kidder sends updates from Haiti

Tracy Kidder, who works with Partners in Health and wrote Mountains Beyond Mountains, sends a tempered assessment of the recovery efforts from the Haitian PIH base in this month's The New England Journal of Medicine.

Viewed as a whole, the international medical response to Haiti's catastrophe has been praiseworthy, grand in scale, and successful in alleviating some of the suffering and in saving many lives. But it has been far from good enough.

Kidder calls for more cooperation among NGOs and increased local ownership of development efforts. Read our related post on Paul Farmer's reactions to the relief efforts.

First-hand reports from Haiti

If you haven't already read the first-hand reports of disaster relief efforts from Dr. Tom Kirsch and his team from the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, I recommend checking them out. Volunteers write about the state of the refugee camps, the supplies (or lack thereof) they have to work with, and the stories of the patients they are helping. You can also follow their activities on Facebook.