Partner Ship for Quality Medical Donations

Catholic Medical Mission Board preventing Mother-to-Child HIV transmission in Haiti

in

 

Catholic Medical Mission Board Preventing Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in Haiti

Hôpital Sacré Coeur
Milot, Haiti
Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB)

Nutrition Center, across the street from Hôpital Sacré CoeurOccupying the western third of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The average income per capita for their 8 million people is $250 U.S./year. This poverty contributes to Haiti's endemic nutritional deficiencies, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, bacterial and protozoal dysenteries, and malaria. Currently, it is estimated that there are 30 hospitals in Haiti serviced by a total of 400 physicians. There is one doctor for every 7,180 inhabitants and one nurse per 2,290 persons. Hospital beds average one per 2,000 persons.

 Through their Healing Help Global Pharmaceutical Donation Program, CMMB supports its international charity partners, medical mission team partners, and in-country healthcare facilities with free gifts of medicines and medical supplies. 

CMMB has made 65 shipments valuing nearly 2.7 million dollars to CRUDEM (Center for the Rural Development of Milot) and their hospital, Hôpital Sacré Coeur, since they first began supporting their efforts to bring quality healthcare to the poor in 2000. The Hôpital Sacré Coeur is a 64-bed hospital, with 3,000 in-patient admissions annually.  The Hospital serves more than 60,000 outpatients a year in pediatric, surgical, AIDS, filariasis and other specialty clinics through their primary health care center, nutritional center and mobile clinic. In a recent previous shipment to the Hospital, CMMB sent 12,000 cans of Abbott’s Ensure to support the nutritional needs of mothers enrolled in Born to Live, CMMB’s Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT) program.

 
The objective of CMMB’s Born to Live program is to reduce the risk of transmission of the HIV virus, and expand the availability of antiretroviral drug therapies for HIV-positive mothers and their afflicted children. Healing Help reinforces the efforts of CMMB’s Country Director in Haiti, Dr. Dianne Jean Francois, and CMMB’s faith-based partners in Haiti, by supplementing antiretroviral drug therapies with donations of nutritional products, antibiotics, and diagnostic supplies. This integrated approach promotes the sustainability of healthcare services in Milot. 
 
Partners and donors in the program are Abbott Laboratories, CARITAS, RISCAP, Salesian Sisters, and Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
Founded in 1928, CMMB is the leading faith-based organization in international healthcare, working collaboratively to provide quality healthcare programs and services, without discrimination, to people in need around the world.  Their core competencies include the placement of medical volunteers, the implementation of disease-specific healthcare programs, and the distribution of medicines and medical supplies. While their efforts are concentrated in their core countries: Haiti, Honduras, Zambia, and Kenya, where they have country offices and qualified healthcare professionals overseeing programmatic activity, they have shipped to over 100 different countries in five regions since their inception. Last fiscal year, they made 535 shipments of medicines and supplies to 47 countries.
 
Photo: Nutrition Center, across the street from Hôpital Sacré Coeur