| Reporting Organization: | Partners In Health Canada |
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| Total Budget ($CAD): | $ 1,480,008 |
| Timeframe: | April 1, 2017 - March 31, 2020 |
| Status: | Implementation |
| Contact Information: |
Mark Brender [email protected] |
| Haiti - $ 1,480,008.00 (100.00%) | |
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| Health Promotion & Education (25 %) | |
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| Primary Health Care (25 %) | |
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| WASH (50 %) | |
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This project seeks to address two related challenges in the community of St. Marc, Haiti: the large number of children affected by malnutrition and the high rates of children lost to follow-up. Employing community-based strategies, it focuses on achieving two primary goals: i) the treatment and full recovery of the maximum number of malnourished children possible, and ii) the prevention of the conditions and/or illnesses that contribute to malnutrition through improved community-based approaches.
The project has the following four priorities:
(1) To increase the number of children cured of acute malnutrition;
(2) To reduce the rate at which children with malnutrition drop out of treatment prior to reaching full nutritional recovery;
(3) To reduce the number of children suffering from acute malnutrition who require hospital care; and,
(4) To increase breastfeeding of children aged 0-6 months.
| Gender and age: | Under-5 children Newborns |
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| Descriptors: | Rural Other - and post-partum women; adult male and female internal residents |
| Total Direct Population: | 4,515 |
| 12 | Residents trained |
| 14 | Trainings conducted |
| 396 | Mobile clinics conducted |
| 42981 | RUTF (Ready-to-use therapeutic food) distributed |
The ultimate goal of this project is to prevent deaths among children with acute malnutrition in the St. Marc region of Haiti. To achieve this goal, there are two primary strategies: (1) the treatment of acutely malnourished children and, (2) the prevention of the conditions and illnesses that contribute to malnutrition.
(1) Under the first branch, the following results are expected:
• Increased number of children screened for malnutrition
• Increased number of children treated for acute malnutrition
• Decreased program abandonment rates
• Decreased hospitalizations from acute maltnutrition
(2) Under the second project arm related to prevention, the following results are expected:
• Increased number of mothers practicing exclusive breastfeeding
• Increased number of clinical and community-based staff trained on the exclusive breastfeeding
• Improved access to clean water
• Improved sanitation practices.
Additional expected results: i. Twelve residents are enrolled in the internal medicine residency program at HUM
ii. Twelve internal medicine residents complete the internal medicine residency program at HUM
iii. The Internal medicine residency program is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Graduate Medical Education – International (ACGME-I)
To date, the project has screened 23,671 children and enrolled 4,090 of them in malnutrition treatment programs, against a target of 3,067. Over 2,250 children have been discharged from treatment after reaching full nutritional recovery, the equivalent of 175% of the project’s target.
A core strategy underscoring this project’s success is the use of community-based strategies, specifically the deployment of mobile clinics for case finding, treatment and referral. Starting just shy of a year into the project, mobile clinics are now active in 39 sites and have been used to screen 5,279 children and enroll 1,200 of them in treatment. These 1,200 children have made close to 7,000 visits to the mobile clinics between April 2018 and March 2019, an average of 5.7 visits per child enrolled. The mobile clinics have also been critical in reducing the number of cases that are lost to follow-up. While 280 children have abandoned treatment, the rate has decreased to nearly zero following the launch of the mobile clinics.
In terms of results related to the prevention of malnutrition, over 5,500 children have been dewormed, a result that is 81% above target. Of children encountered through mobile clinics and eligible for vaccination, 100% have been vaccinated. Community health workers have conducted 22,365 education sessions and reached 159,860 community members with critical information about water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH), and their significance for family health and wellbeing. Complementing these education sessions has been the delivery of over 1,700 WaSH kits to families with malnourished children. These kits contain a plastic bucket with a tap, soap, and tablets for purifying drinking water, providing each family with everything they need to implement safe hand-washing and drinking water practices at home.
Relevant results achieved:
i. 5216 consultations were conducted by internal medicine residents over a 12-month period
ii. 3072 patients were seen by an internal medicine resident over a 12-month period
iii. Twelve residents were provided with financial support to complete the internal medicine residency at HUM
