Haiti Project
Infant and child mortality in Haiti is the highest of the Western hemisphere, a direct manifestation of the levels of extreme poverty and social insecurity prevalent throughout the entire country. At present, more than 50% of Haitians lack access to primary health care services. Furthermore, the national health sector is often unable to respond to these problems with even simple and cost-effective interventions due to limited technical and managerial capacity.
CGHED is currently working with centers across the Earth Institute and local partners such as Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to implement a Millennium Village in the Port-à-Piment watershed, located within the South Department of Haiti. The Port-à-Piment watershed area is located in the southwestern end of the South Department. It comprises the town and larger commune of Port-à-Piment and small parts of the adjacent communes of Chardonnières, Chantal, and Coteaux, which together cover seven communal sections and an approximate population of 30,000 residents. The health interventions carried out in this region are part of an integrated, multi-sector package of interventions targeting agriculture, education, environment, infrastructure, water and sanitation, disaster risk management, and business development.
Activities
Many of the proven health interventions that have been launched in the other MV sites are being contextualized and implemented in Haiti, including the following:
- Increasing the capacity of the health facilities to provide necessary services: This includes ensuring access to basic curative and diagnostic services, in addition to family planning, improved maternal and child health services, and focusing on prevention of infectious diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia, helminthes, malaria and HIV/AIDS.
- Increasing rates of institutional delivery: Rates of institutional delivery throughout the South Department as a whole are currently at 23.4%, and likely significantly less in the MVP site given the limited number of facilities, and the lack of access. The team is addressing this through the provision of “mama kits” at the facilities for mothers, providing an ambulance for emergency referral services, and outreach to Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs).
- Responding to the ongoing cholera epidemic: The MVP team has been key in delivering needed medicines and services to the health facilities and Cholera Treatment Centers (CTC). Future activities include behavior change campaigns regarding sanitation and hygiene at the household and community level for cholera prevention based on EI developed curriculum and international best practices, as well as increasing the capacity of the CTCs to provide treatment for the entire watershed.
In particular, a new cadre of professionalized Community Health Workers, critical frontline health workers that will extend the reach of the existing primary healthcare system into the community, is being implemented in partnership with CRS. The CHW program is ultimately part of a ‘continuum of care’ with emphasis on ‘close to client’ services especially for the most vulnerable households in the watershed.
Finally, with regard to scalability and sustainability, CGHED is working closely with the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) and the Prime Minister’s and President’s offices to advise on national health policy, including a minimum package of health services and the coordination and launch of a national Community Health Worker program.
More Information
Please visit the overall project site at www.haitiregeneration.org.