Social Issue

In recent years, Haiti has been shaken by various calamities that have paralysed the subsistence economy of Haitian families, who depend on informal labour to survive. The country’s security crisis has led to job losses, impoverishment, and displacement of the population.

As a result, 4.5 million Haitians are food insecure, leading to inadequate dietary intake of nutrients, acute malnutrition in Haiti among children under 5 years of age has increased by 61% in the last year. Malnutrition has serious consequences on the physical and intellectual development of children, making them more vulnerable to disease and restricting their learning prospects.

Our Response

The medical-nutritional recovery project at St. Damien Hospital contributes to the recovery of the health of 200 children each year who are in a critical state of malnutrition. Fundación Netri has been supporting the nutritional program at St. Damien Hospital since 2007.

The security crisis in Haiti affects the hospital, especially in nutritional recovery. Armed gangs in Port-au-Prince displace families, preventing medical visits, and some nutritional recovery beds have been earmarked for emergencies. Previously, the program was able to help 400 malnourished children a year.

Managed by Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs, the local partner of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos in Haiti, this project helps combat the alarming rate of malnutrition among the Haitian child population.

St Damien Hospital is the only hospital in Haiti with a specific unit to treat child malnutrition. The average duration of treatment for nutritional recovery is 4 weeks of hospitalization and 4 weeks of outpatient follow-up, although the most severe cases may have longer stays (up to 2 or 3 months).

The beneficiaries of this program are children from the slums of Port-au-Prince, victims of the intergenerational cycle of poverty.

Expected Social Impact

With this collaboration, each year we contribute to the medical and nutritional treatment and recovery of Haitian babies and children who are in poor health due to malnutrition.