The Way To Health Community Team continues to do remarkable work for the underserved in the slums of Cite Soleil, Haiti. The way things unfold—how our teams are safe and how we find the right treatment—can only be attributed to God. There is no other explanation.

The poor of Haiti, namely the Cite Soleil ghetto of Port Au Prince have made it through civil war. Garbriel, the head of G Pep, has made peace with neighboring gang members. Very rarely now do we hear bullets ring in the air, and Ave Soleil has opened for a small amount of commerce. As we witnessed two weeks ago the capital is still under siege from kidnappings and Kenyan officers. Our medical team still had to travel, with all the other bread and water vendors, through ½ mile of debris filled liquid sewage to get into the community.

Cite Soleil’s underserved children are facing a food and medical crisis. According to the United Nations, 65% of the population of the capital is facing high levels of food insecurity, and 5% are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) index measures the severity of hunger, and specifically Cite Soleil is currently in phase 5, the highest level of catastrophe (famine).

Way To Health organization is now successfully daily feeding severely malnourished children under the age of 5 with a fortified peanut butter bar, Medika Mamba. Our teams are well trained, collect monthly height and weight data and provide reports to UNICEF. The current daily roster includes 112 children, and over the past year, over 20,000 meals have been served to 252 children. A remarkable 148 children, initially classified as severely malnourished according to World Health Organization standards, have been successfully discharged after reaching a median standard WHO weight. However, we currently have many severely malnourished children we cannot afford to offer nutritious food. With funding, we can extend our services, offering crucial food and medical support to the children who are at the highest risk of starvation.

Our telehealth team, consisting of Teah Bland, RN, and Dr. Tram Jones, along with the support of our four trained Community Health workers on the ground, operate seven days a week. One memorable patient from last quarter was a prison escapee, whom the team correctly diagnosed and treated for syphilis. Some of our telehealth patients are identified through the Medika Mamba program when we notice a trend of two to three months of failure to thrive. We then arrange a face-to-face video conference with subsequent medical follow-up. Notable diagnoses from this activity include pneumonia, severe parasitic infestation, and even typhoid cases.

First, we want to thank the Lord above, and all who have been in prayer for the poor. We also want to recognize the Laffin Trust and the Upward Twist for underwriting our recent mission trips. As always, we are grateful to all our donors who continue to generously support the work of Way to Health.

Godspeed,
Lisa