In a context of extreme poverty, people in and around the community of St. Louis du Nord, Haiti receive social, medical and educational services through the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission (www.nwhcm.org). HPIC’s involvement with the mission has grown from the provision of several PTPs per year since 2005, to larger shipments of medical aid beginning in 2008.
The partnership between NWHCM and HPIC enables the people of Northwest Haiti to receive the much-needed medicines and medical supplies that are not otherwise available in this desperate region of the country.
Northwest Haiti Christian Mission
NWHCM has two large campuses, situated in St. Louis du Nord and Port de Paix. Four satellite facilities operate in La Croix, Far West, La Pointe and Anse-a-Foleur.
The services in St. Louis du Nord include a school, medical facilities, home for elderly Haitians, home for special needs children, and nutritional facilities. The catchment area includes approximately 55,000 people.
The local population is served free of charge by a clinic, a pediatric clinic, a lab and a pharmacy. There is a birthing center where 125-145 babies are born every month. The clinic normally employs three native Haitian doctors, several interns, a staff of nurses and trained midwives, five pharmacy staff, and four medical lab technicians. NWHCM was recently been approved to be the HIV/AIDS center for the area and is working on developing that program.
In addition to these services there is a surgery center and teams travel to Haiti several times a year to provide general surgery, orthopedic surgery, eye surgery, etc. For most of the people in the area, these teams are their only option for surgery.
“The patients arrive before dawn, lining up in the street, to see the doctor. Typically, each patient will bring children or the elderly and ask to have them seen instead. Tags are handed out for those who need to see the doctor, and although NWHCM attempts to treat everyone, there is usually a limit of four patients per tag. In one village mobile clinic, they expected to see 35 patients and saw 254 patients instead.
The situation in Northwest Haiti
The areas where NWHCM serves have no infrastructure at the best of times. Where sewage is available, it is merely open sewers – a greater hazard in flood conditions. The mission well is the only source of dependably potable water. Because electricity is unavailable or unreliable, the mission must rely on generators as its main source of power. In this context, conditions for surgical interventions and medical care are rudimentary.
There is an 80 per cent illiteracy rate and a 25 per cent HIV infection rate. Only 1 in 7 children typically survives to the age of 12 years. The average family income is less than $100 USD per year.
The population in general suffers from malnutrition and infections due to dirty water and lack of hygiene. The clinic regularly treats patients with fungal infections, ear and eye infections, HIV related infections, STDs and pneumonia.
Women’s health issues are culturally a very low priority. Medicine for the treatment of women’s health issues has helped foster a trust relationship with the community served by NWHCM, especially among the young mothers and young working women.
Another marginalized group treated at NWHCM is the elderly. They often sleep on the bare earth, and fend for themselves by working with their hands.
Healthcare programs related to infants and children include a birthing centre, a feeding program for severely malnourished children under five and services targeted to the care of orphans.
HPIC and NWHCM
HPIC provides large quantities of medicine to NWHCM, enabling the mission to offer adequate medical care to the population it serves. Medical aid includes nutritional supplements and vitamins for the children’s nutritional program, antifungals, arthritis medicine, antibiotics, anti-hypertensives and medical supplies.
HPIC works with the mission in a timely manner by providing the requested medical aid four to six times a year in response to both the regular and emergency needs of the community. In response to the multiple hurricanes that caused massive destruction across the whole country in the fall of 2008, HPIC responded quickly with medical aid for the victims.
HPIC and NWHCM work together to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the people of Haiti. Their mutual goal is to bring much-needed health care to those in desperate need, enabling them to return to their communities and fully participate in Haitian society.
