Hands Up for Haiti delivers lifesaving health care to the sickest and most impoverished people of Northern Haiti.
Our Vision
Haitian Run + Haitian Led = Lifesaving Programs that Build a Better Future.
How We Do It
“Sante Kominotè” - Community Based Health Care delivered by hands on the ground, in collaboration with helping hands from neighbors to the north.
Remembering
Dr. Hemant Kairam- A Legacy of Caring and Compassion
The Hands Up for Haiti family is deeply saddened to announce the sudden and unexpected passing of our board member Dr. Hemant Kairam, a gifted pediatrician who has been an integral part of Hands Up for Haiti since its inception. Read more about Dr. Kairam and his legacy here.
Sometimes, a partnership opportunity comes along that is the exact right thing at the right time: a collaboration to address food insecurity, the root cause of malnutrition.
As people are unable to travel and are fearful of being exposed to COVID, they often stay home and do not get the lifesaving care they need to combat other illnesses. One mother, however, bravely sought care from HUFH’s staff when her 18 month old baby girl became very ill.
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 twice 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 supports prenatal nutrition and education programs, provides obstetrical training and supports prenatal outreach, maternity centers and ambulance corps.
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 650 matrones and 250 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 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 13 water wells, and is currently digging its 14th 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.
