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Fondwa Health Care Facility
The Fondwa Health Care Team and Partners in Progress remain united in a common goal –“ Bon Sante pou Tout! (Good Health for All!)” To achieve this goal, we demonstrate our commitment through solidarity in spirit and as well as action.
The challenges are formidable as the health of Haiti’s general population continues to weaken under lack of material resources, trained healthcare personnel and government spending. Remerging diseases such as malaria and measles and emerging such as HIV and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis increase the strain on an already struggling healthcare system. Chronic diseases such as diabetes, and hypertension are under recognized and under treated. Public health threats from inadequate sanitation and drinkable water threaten all age groups but impact most heavily on the children who are especially vulnerable. The leading causes of child mortality in Haiti are diarrheal diseases, acute respiratory infections and malnutrition. These problems are not unique to Haiti and are well described in many other lesser-developed countries. However, in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is indeed an area of extreme need.
Two of the most revealing indicators of general health of a country are life expectancy and infant mortality. The most recent data available from the World Bank and Pan American Health Organization (2002) report that life expectancy at birth has declined to 52 years and infant mortality remains the highest in the Latin America/Caribbean Region (80.3/1000 live births, 2001 estimate). Maternal mortality has also increased as a result of inadequate prenatal care and complications of labor and delivery. It remains sadly evident that the vast majority of deaths occur from diseases that are easily preventable and treatable in most developed countries.
Despite these unsettling realities, healthcare services in Fondwa are improving. Under the dedicated leadership of Sister Carmelle, Nurse Kerline and Student Nurse Engleed, primary medical care services are available to the community seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Before APF built this facility, the local residents had to make a long and difficult journey to the nearest hospital in Leogane, an eight hour walk or 45 minute drive away. Now people can receive an evaluation for less than one-fifth the cost of the same exam in Port au Prince. A small on site pharmacy, where medications are dispensed, is reasonably well stocked and largely supplemented by donations from several collaborating groups in the United States including Partners in Progress.
Although the existing staff is well trained in community health, there is no regularly scheduled physician coverage for more complicated patient problems. This in fact is typical for the rural population of Haiti. Physicians, as with other health care workers, are in short supply (1/5,000 people in comparison to the United States 1/400-500 people) and often choose to practice in the few major cities where the population is concentrated and compensation is higher. The Fondwa clinic, like many other rural clinics has minimal funding and therefore the community relies on volunteer physician services. Most recently international medical teams who visit several times a year from the United States and Cuba have offered these services. These encounters benefit not only the people of Fondwa but also the existing health staff and the volunteers themselves. Learning with and from each other and together with the patient is an effective way to bring good health to individuals and the community at large.
In 2004, basic primary care services will be enhanced by an on site medical laboratory. As a means to increase the level of healthcare available to the local population, the community and Haitian healthcare workers requested assistance from Partners in Progress to design and implement a laboratory. Two foundation grants were received to begin making this vision a reality. In collaboration with the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Kansas, PIP secured funding from the Hackett Foundation for purchase of a stand alone Photovoltaic (Solar) System. The system which was not only purchased but also installed by an in country distributor, will ensure a reliable source of electricity for the laboratory. The use of locally available resources (renewable solar energy, expertise materials and labor) will help guarantee the success and sustainability of the project.
A second grant from the Foundation of the College of American Pathologists will be used to purchase instruments and supplies for the lab. PIP is working with the Fondwa Health Care Team to develop a safe and quality laboratory testing facility. With the new laboratory, anemia screening for the school children performed in collaboration with Family Health Ministries (FHM) from Durham North Carolina. A prenatal screening program will also be implemented. The staff is eager to learn and accept the additional responsibility necessary to take this next step in improving health for their community.
Plans for the upcoming year include developing more standardized protocols for treatment and establishing a computer database for tracking incidence of diseases, patient test results, response to therapy and for better inventory management. With the realization that many medicines are difficult to obtain in Haiti and must be donated or purchased from abroad, PIP along with FHM strives to use the WHO Essential Medicines List as a guide for drug therapy.
PIP anticipates the need for additional funding towards operating costs for the clinic in general and for the laboratory. Material donations of over the counter medicines especially prenatal and infant vitamins are always appreciated. Visiting healthcare teams are always welcome, as would be a long-term commitment by a primary care provider.
Partners in Progress is grateful to participate with the Fondwa Health Care Team and other international support groups in helping the community to achieve its long term goal for Bon Sante pou Tout!
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