In the last few months, the community health program has made a lot of progress against childhood pneumonia, HIV, malnutrition, and progress for women’s health. Forty community volunteers have been trained to teach people how to prevent and treat pneumonia, with a focus on hand washing which can reduce pneumonia rates by 25 percent.
They have also made a big push to get more children weighed every month so those with malnutrition can be found and treated. At the beginning of October in the new villages, only 45 percent of kids were being weighed, but at the end of March about 94 percent of the kids are coming to the rally posts. The rate of malnutrition is also coming down, from about 38-50 percent to 7-10 percent. Children with moderately low weight are entered into the “Ti Foyer” program so their families learn about local foods which help growth and get an extra meal. Severely malnourished children are treated with therapeutic Medika Mamba food to recuperate them to health.
For HIV, 28 pregnant women were found to be HIV positive and we helped them get to a clinic to receive treatment so their babies won’t get infected. For maternal health, mother’s clubs have started in all of the three new villages and are meeting monthly to learn about healthy pregnancies and the danger signs to get help. In June, the clinic staff received a TB training series from Dr. Joe Markee. This month the community health workers will be trained using a Creole TB curriculum from Partners in Health. In the coming months, they will visit homes to teach about TB, identify and refer people suspected of having TB, and monitor TB patients to be sure they are taking their medications.
As you can see, HFH is walking alongside our capable local partners to improve the community’s health, and your support makes a huge, tangible difference in the lives of people in Haiti.
To give to the community health program and support these local volunteers and their work, donate online.
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