CMMB Haiti

CMMB has been committed to Haiti since its founder, Dr. Paluel Flagg, traveled there in 1912 to provide healthcare to people living with leprosy. That visit marked the beginning of CMMB.  Today, CMMB’s programs in Haiti focus on primary healthcare, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS treatment, care, and prevention, malaria, and services for the disabled.

Primary Healthcare Services
Action for Family Health is a program aimed at reaching ‘the poorest of the poor’ living in areas where access to quality healthcare is extremely limited.  With a special focus on maternal and child health, Action for Family Health provides essential medicines, trains healthcare workers, and leads educational meetings for new and expectant mothers. It is a community-based initiative that serves women and children in multiple sites around the country.

HIV/AIDS
CMMB is committed to reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and providing care and treatment to those in need.  As a leader of the project SIDALE (AIDS Go Away), CMMB collaborates with community partners to ensure comprehensive care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS within six faith-based hospitals dispersed around Haiti.  CMMB has teamed with Family Health International (FHI) as a local implementer of CHAMP (Community Health and AIDS Mitigation Project) to help increase local capacity to serve families affected by HIV/AIDS and to provide community level maternal and child health services.  CMMB also helps reduce the incidence of HIV by preventing transmission from mother to child (PMTCT) through the Born to Live program, which operates in Cite Soleil, Haiti, one of the poorest slums in the country.

Malaria
In August 2010, CMMB launched a malaria eradication program supported by The Global Fund.  The goal of the program is to increase the number of personnel trained in the treatment of malaria.  CMMB assists in the training and supervision of healthcare workers, creation of monitoring and evaluation systems, and procurement of medical supplies as needed.

Post-Earthquake Initiatives
After the devastating earthquake that struck the country on January 12, 2010 CMMB staff members were providing emergency relief within hours.  More than $46 million has been raised in cash and medical donations, of which 95 percent has been delivered to Haiti.  CMMB helped place more than 250 medical volunteers to serve the Haitian people.  CMMB has resumed pre-earthquake initiatives and introduced new programs aimed at the long-term recovery of Haitians affected by the disaster.

An important new area of focus for CMMB is physical rehabilitation for amputees.  CMMB is a founding member of the Haitian Amputee Coalition, which has helped more than 1,000 people who have lost their limbs to receive prostheses and physical therapy, renewing their hope for a better life. CMMB also held summer camps for the last two years, serving over 300 children who were affected by the earthquake.