Medics sent to Haiti by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have delivered 25 babies in the two weeks since a massive earthquake devastated the Caribbean country's capital, Port-au-Prince, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Monday. “In the midst of all of the tragedy, the sorrow, and the destruction, our staff has helped to deliver 25 babies,” Sebelius said in a speech to a Washington symposium on U.S. homeless youth. “There is a resilience, and life goes on among our neighbors and friends,” Sebelius said, urging the United States and other governments to remain committed to the enormous reconstruction effort in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. “We're dealing with a country where one out of two Haitians is under 18. It's a very young country. Most of this tragedy has fallen on young people, and their situation is going to get even more challenging,” the U.S. health chief said. The HHS Department has five medical teams, several surgical teams, and mortuary teams in Haiti, Sebelius said. “Hospitals have been set up, the USS Comfort [Navy hospital ship] has arrived, and they are operating [at full capacity]. … Thousands of patients have been seen so far,” she said.
