Americares reaches the most vulnerable in a Haiti under seige

With fuel shortages and soaring prices preventing the most basic human needs, a $51,000 grant from HHP partner Americares has enabled the CSUG clinic to better access remote communities with its outreach programs. The funds helped purchase this motorcycle ambulance to carry patients needing urgent care for treatment.

The challenge of living in Haiti over the last three months has worsened significantly due to gang dominance of the roads going in and out of cities and a full blockade of the major fuel depot. Commerce has ground to a halt, and famine and the spread of cholera threaten the entire nation. But thanks to a $51,000 award in June to HHP and the CSUG clinic, our mission to deliver rural healthcare to the country's most isolated and vulnerable hasn't missed a beat.

In three short months since receiving the award, the CSUG staff has:

• Run monthly mobile clinics bringing medical consults, free medications and referrals to 509 regionally isolated residents;
  

• Vaccinated 687 children and pregnant women in the farthest regions of our zone, and in partnership with Vitamin Angles, provided them with prenatal vitamins, vitamin A and albendazole, an effective treatment for infections caused by worms;
  

• Seen 354 people at the clinic for primary care consults;
  

• Provided perinatal checks, family planning and parenting classes for 505 women at the birth center, and assisted 19 safe births, up from 6 for the same period last year;
  

• Through our training and tracking program for traditional birth attendants, extended maternal child health services to 231 remote residents and facilitated 31 safe home births;
  

• Re-tested 30 HIV-positive women who had been positive for early signs of cervical cancer last year. After treatment, all have tested negative. With the CSUG staff now trained in the LEEP treatment technique, three women who were persistently positive in the past are now in the clear;
  

• Installed essential medical equipment, including an oxygen compressor, suction machine and EKG. Coming soon: an ultrasound machine;
  

• Stocked medications -- $4,200 worth -- to support mobile clinics over the next six months;
  

• Provided work for local artisans making beds and side tables to furnish the birth center;
  

• Upgraded our solar power with new batteries and a new inverter to provide 24/7 power to both the clinic and the birth center.
  

• Purchased a motorcycle ambulance to collect patients in need of immediate care;
  

• In the first three months, the impact of the Americares grant has been enormous. We estimate it has provided care and saved lives for 2316 marginalized people in the farthest corners of our zone.

With funds designed to cover program costs for a full calendar year (July, 2022 - July, 2023) Americares is enabling us to move ahead at the most challenging times.