Our Projects:

• Micro-credit program
• Family Planning/Sexual Health/Maternal Health
• Children's Health and Nutrition
• Outreach Programs
• Medical Records
• Local Medical Training
• Water, Sanitation and Malarial Prevention
• Financial Transparency and Management

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Micro-credit program

In an effort to build economic independence for people in the community of Bod me Limbe a small micro-credit program has been implemented. Through this program we are providing opportuntities for people to identify and respond to local needs while gaining some financial independence and business skills. In November of 2008 five women from the community presented brief business plans to a panel of people comprised of both Canadian volunteers from Haiti Village Health and local community leaders. All of the plans were reviewed and discussed for their feasability, all five were approavded and business loans were made to the women. The terms, interest rate and pay back schedule were explained and agrrement was reached by all parties involved. Since that time the women have established their small businesses selling fish, household goods and rice in a community that had virtually no market activity. People had been obligated to travel to other places to purchase soap, hygeine and food items. The women have been repaying their loans under the supervision of our local adminitrator, Mr. Santo Pierre. We are poised to offer loans to another group of women and will soon be posting the success stories of this micro-credit program on this site

Family Planning/Sexual Health/Maternal Health

Many women in Haiti have very few options when it comes to family planning and even less control. Availability and use of condoms is limited and local cultural and sexual politics leaves women with little say in the family planning process. Safe and effective female birth control options are in limited supply and and access to them is restricted due to lack of consistent medical oversight and resources.

From Day 1, sexual health education sessions and meetings conducted by Haiti Village Health with village women clearly indicated a strong desire for birth control. While HaitiVillageHealth regularly distributes condoms to all patients it has begun to administer injectable birth control for women who request it. It is not administered lightly. All women who request it go through an education session that covers issues of sexually transmitted infection, pregnancy testing and are provided with a complement of maternal vitamins. This is the first such program of its kind in the region and has been welcomed by all.

Members of the Team conduct regular open education sessions with women on issues of maternal health distributing vitamins and providing education on childhood nutrition. Men have their own sessions where the need for proper condom use is promoted. Discussions extend beyond simple birth control and into prevention of sexually transmitted diseases especially HIV which is extremely important in a country with a rural infection rate of 13%. For example $500 will provide maternal vitamins for 100 women for a full year.

Children's Health and Nutrition

The village of Bod Me Limbe has been a fishing and farming community for well over 100 years. However, the fishing is hard, the catches small and the land is suitable for only small parcels of maize, manioc and peanuts. Plantain and banana or “fig” in the local dialect are available year round and other seasonal fruit such as mangos are collected. This village does fare better than many but childhood malnutrition is a major concern.

Haiti Village Health funds a de-worming program and has in the last year provided medications to almost every child in the region on at least one occasion and results have been phenomenal and quantifiable. Health of the population under 5 years has improved visibly all for a cost of less than $0.20 per child.

In coordination with the Maternal Health sessions Team Members educate mothers on how to get the most nutritional value from the locally available food sources. Particular attention is paid to the production of a high calorie/high protein peanut butter called “mamba”.

In keeping with the HaitiVillageHealth philosophy it is local knowledge and resources that are the long term solution. Haiti Village Health has taken the mamba program one step further encouraged by the global food crisis that is endangering Haiti as it is other regions of the world. We have partnered with Meds and Food For Kids: www.medsandfoodforkids.org to create a properly monitored nutritional support program for severely malnourished children in the region. This Medica Mamba is produced by the organization in Cap Haitien, Haiti. Children are inducted into the program after being screened and receiving medical attention and after the mother is counselled. The program is operated scientifically with the Mamba being distributed in precise amounts at regular intervals. Children are provided with regular follow up to guage the effectiveness of the program and results again have been phenomenal.

A child can be inducted into this program and complete a full course bring him or her back to health for only $60.

Outreach Programs

While the clinic is located in the village of Bod Me Limbe it welcomes patients from the surrounding villages of Bouchi, Mons, Noman, Guiotan and Mongoio. Many elderly patients, those with mobility problems and those weakened by malaria are often unable to make the journey.

At the request of the Sante Pou Yo Committee, HaitiVillageHealth began sending Teams consisting of a Physician, Nurse, local Community Health Worker (trained by Haiti Village Health) and Translators out into the surrounding countryside. These visits have proven invaluable and educational. It has been eye opening to see how the dynamic changes and how much more relaxed the patients are when they welcome the Teams into their homes. Teams have used these visits to evaluate local water supplies, food sources, sanitation and to better understand our neighbors.

Medical Records

Since Day 1 Haiti Village Health has made it part of its mission to learn as much as it could about the local population so that we could better assist with the needs they have rather than the needs we perceive them to have. An important part of this has been to implement a full charting system for each patient similar to what your family doctor has for you. This information is now the first, only and most detailed collection of health and demographic information for the people living in the region.

What does this information tell us? It allows us to measure improvement in a patient’s condition. It allows us to make informed choices on medication purchases. It allows us to respond to and treat malarial outbreaks in the region before they get out of control.

It allows us to show the government what the needs are in the village and lobby for assistance from them and other NGOs when needed. It helps us show you where your money is going. It allows us to say that including travel, accommodation, food, medicine and equipment it costs on average only $17 per person to provide medical care to people who have no other options.

Local Medical Training

Haiti Village Health has been training a number of local women to assist with Medical Records, Triage, Lab and Pharmacy so that it can reduce the number of expatriate personnel required on each visit. This in turn reduces the overall cost of service and further encourages self-sufficiency. At the request of the Sante Pou Yo Committee these women were trained in basic first aid and wound care and provided with a stock of supplies and basic medications to be utilized between medical team visits. This program has been a huge success and has now been augmented with the hiring of a local Haitian trained Nurse and Doctor several days per week.

Water, Sanitation and Malarial Prevention

Water and sanitation like nutrition are integral to strong health. Haiti Village Health members, who are experts in the field completed a detailed sampling and analysis program of all of the village wells as well as an sanitation survey involving composting toilets and waste management.

While the wells were determined to be in sound condition they were of a design that would allow surface contamination during the seasonal rains which has been confirmed on the ground through laboratory analysis. Haiti Village Health is now partnering with an experienced NGO already working in Haiti to improve the wells and install low maintenance well heads and pumps. Haiti Village Health has arranged to facilitate the installation and training while the village has committed to raising funds for maintenance with the assistance of Haiti Village Health. This ownership is essential to self-sufficiency and sustainability.

Wells can be constructed for $1,000 each and individual household filter units can be purchased for a family for $30 each which provide invaluable protection from water borne illnesses.

The village has no sanitation facilities which has a direct impact on water quality and the potential for the spreading of disease in the village. Recognizing this Haiti Village Health has partnered with US based organization Vwa Ayiti who has experience in the region in the construction of these specially designed dry toilets.

Haiti Village Health sponsors a trash collection program in the village. This program is designed to reduce the incidence of standing water and trash piles that permit the growth of the mosquito population and facilitate malaria in the region. This need was identified as a major priority by the village elders and Haiti Village Health is pleased to have been a part of it and the reduction in the incidence of malaria.

In conjunction with these efforts are the supply of treated bed nets to families. Provision of these nets, especially for young children can help limit infection and transmission of this fully preventable and dibilitating disease. These nets can be provided to families for only $20 each.

Financial Transparency and Management

Haiti village Health is a medical air organization dedicated to the provision of much needed and non-existent health care and public health education to the villages of Haiti. We are a totally volunteer organization comprised of medical professions from across Canada, the US and Bermuda with 100% of funds raised going directly to support the health needs of the people of Haiti. All team members are individually responsible for funding their travel to and subsistence in Haiti. In Canada our finances are managed transparently through the Canadian registered charity, ORA International through whom our tax reciepts are issued. We are also a duly registed and recognized charity in Bermuda where our Founder, Dr. Tiffany Keenan is a practising Emergency Physician. We are governed by the laws of Canada and Bermuda and managed by a Board of directors whose membership includes an international roster of medical professionals and business leaders committed to open and transparent operation.

Quick links

Haiti Village Health Blog

Life Line For Haiti

Vwa Ayiti

Narrating Haiti, a documentary by Monica Kidd

Hesperian: Useful Books for download

ORA International

Health Partner International

Meds and Food For Kids

Konbite Sante - helping the Justinian Hospital