For HUFH staff, saving lives never takes a day off. What does it mean for the most vulnerable children in Haiti and their families when our staff says: “When Hands Up for Haiti works, everything works.”
In Haiti, a country in crisis, HUFH delivers medical care where no other options exist. When HUFH works, everything works, even for the poor; if HUFH cannot work, everything freezes for the poor.
75% of people in rural Haiti live in poverty on less than $2 per day, many without access to medical care. In Haiti, medical care is a privilege, not a right; most are too poor to be well.
HUFH brings healthcare to thousands of Haitians each year in some of Northern Haiti’s most impoverished communities. Our mobile santè program - outreach clinics led by HUFH's staff of Haitian doctors, nurses, community health workers and support staff, travels to communities in need weekly, seeing about 100 patients, mostly children, on each clinic day.
More than 500,000 Haitians, about 5% of the population, are legally blind; about 80,000 have no light perception at all.
HUFH regularly screens for glaucoma and other diseases at all of its mobile santè clinics, and the Eye Team works with Haitian ophthalmologists, consulting and teaching, and funds follow-up care.
Haiti has the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western hemisphere. An estimated 1 in 285 births will result in a woman’s death, about 16 times higher than in the United States.
HUFH hosts pre- and postnatal care, nutrition and education programs, provides obstetrical training and supports prenatal outreach and maternity centers.
In Haiti, for every 1,000 births, 60 babies will die in the first month of life; 30 will die directly after birth. Others suffer brain damage and are permanently impaired. In Haiti, only 37% of births are attended by a doctor, nurse, or midwife.
HUFH has trained more than 850 matrones, traditional birth attendants, and 350 medical professionals in the life-saving skills of Helping Babies Breathe and continues to "train the trainer," increasing the ripple effect of this training exponentially.
For every 1,000 babies born in Haiti, 59 will die before reaching their first birthday and 88 will not live past 5 years of age.
HUFH sees more than 3000 children each year at our well-baby, mobile santè and visiting team outreach clinics, spearheads vaccination drives, and has a hospitalization and surgery fund to help children who need follow-up care.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. 25% of Haiti’s population lives in extreme poverty. Many communities lack access to clean water and adequate sanitation, and struggle to fight pollution.
HUFH has built 15 water wells, and is currently digging its 16th in a community without any access to clean water, providing more than 55,000 Haitians access to clean water and regularly provides community education programs in water safety and disease prevention.
In Kreyol, Travaye Sante Kominote (TSK). HUFH trains local residents as TSKs to improve health outcomes in the communities we serve. TSKs reinforce treatment plans, reduce barriers to treatment, and bridge cultural understanding. TSKs have become an essential tool to ensure program efficacy.
