Community Health and Development in Haiti

Global Health Action has been conducting community-based health and development programs in Haiti since 1980, primarily focused on the rural and mountainous Leogane District to the west of Port-au-Prince. The District (arrondissement) encompasses the municipalities (communes) of Leogane, Grande-Goave, and Petit-Goave and has a total population of 300,000. GHA’s programs serve basic health and development needs of poor, rural Haitians, who often live in isolated communities and, even in the best of times, have limited access to services.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and health resources and medical facilities are spread thinly over a country that is largely mountainous and rural. For most rural Haitians, the nearest medical care is a many-hour walk away. Haitians, especially children, die every day as a result of diseases, illnesses, and conditions that are entirely preventable or treatable.

In 1982, at the request of a group of Haitian community and religious leaders, Global Health Action developed and implemented a training program for community health workers (CHWs). Our partners were the Episcopal Church of Haiti and the Sainte Croix Hospital. The idea was to train and support ordinary men and women to serve health needs in their own communities, giving them the knowledge and skills to prevent and treat illnesses and disease amongst their family, friends, and neighbors. This would extend the health “system” to underserved communities, improve health, and save lives. Nearly 30 years later, the Community Health Worker Training Program, still based out of the Episcopal compound in the tiny hamlet of Darbonne, has trained 1,200 Haitian CHWs, many of whom are still serving their communities. Renette Olivier is the program’s long-time coordinator and lead trainer.

                                                         
One of the first things the newly-trained CHWs recognized was that malnutrition, especially among children, was a major obstacle to improving overall health in their communities (even today more than 60% of all Haitian children under the age of five are malnourished or have anemia). As a result, Global Health Action developed and implemented a program to train poor farmers and provide them with a pregnant goat. GHA and our Haitian partners recognized that the goats would be a source of not only nutrition – milk and meat – but also income for the families. The Haitian Goat Program, which was – and is – also based at the Darbonne Episcopal compound, is still going strong today, having trained 4,000 Haitian farmers and provided that many pregnant goats.

                                                            

Part of the overall focus on community health and development in Haiti has been an emphasis on maternal and child health, including specific community education and health promotion activities; development of our Healthy Mothers, Healthy Children curriculum; additional, specialized information and training for community health workers; and training, equipment, and support for traditional birth attendants (TBAs), who help deliver the overwhelming majority of babies in rural Haiti. In 2010, we are wrapping up a USAID-funded five-year Child Survival Project in the Petit-Goave area.

                                                

Elsewhere in Haiti

GHA has trained CHWs working throughout Haiti, including for the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Deschapelles and for Dr. Paul Farmer’s original Partners In Health clinic in the village of Cange.

On the Island of La Gonave, a two-hour boat ride from the mainland, Global Health Action has provided training and on-going technical assistance to support the work of the La Gonave Haiti Partnership, which includes a goat project and community health care.  

GHA has also trained and consulted on the development of a handful of other goat projects in Haiti, including the FIPE-supported project in the northern city of Gonaives.

Responding to the January 2010 Haiti Earthquake

The powerful earthquake which hit near Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12, 2010 killed at least 230,000 people and left more than a million homeless. The images and stories of both the devastation and the humanitarian response are long gone from the front pages, and outside the country, most people have moved on with their lives. That's only natural. But, the devastation and the response will be "front page news" at Global Health Action for a long time to come.

                                                            
The earthquake caused widespread destruction in Leogane, which has three of Haiti's 10 hardest-hit communes. GHA lost buildings and equipment and supplies and records and goats - so many of the things that made up the physical infrastructure of our programs. But, at times like these, one realizes more than ever that the strength of the programs is the people. We have more than a dozen on-the-ground Haitian staff, a few of whom have been with GHA almost from the beginning. It took close to a week to hear that all of them and their families were safe, and though most of them lost their homes, we were so thankful that they were unharmed.

Global Health Action has a long history in Haiti and a deep commitment to helping the Haitian people. We know that rebuilding programs and lives will be neither swift nor easy, but we will be there to work with the people of Haiti. As the country moves beyond the initial crisis response, GHA’s work in Haiti is focusing on six complementary strategies: listening to communities, training leaders, educating women, generating livelihoods, rebuilding health and development systems, and preparing for emergencies.

Long-Term Rebuilding Strategies in Haiti.pdf