Konbit Sante Donors Help Young Mother and Her Baby Survive

When Daichca became pregnant, she was thrown into a world of chaos. Her aunt with whom she had been living threw her out. The baby’s father abandoned her. She had no home, no family support, and no idea how to take care of herself, much less a child.

She felt utterly, completely, alone.

Then one day last September, she attended a mother’s clinic supported by Konbit Sante in the Fort Saint Michel community of Cap-Haitien. And she met nurse Josaime Clotilde St Jean, who took her under her wing.

“When you have problem, you call me,” St Jean told her. “No matter what, no matter when—you call me.”

With St Jean’s facilitation and guidance, Daichca received prenatal care and gave birth at FSM. Both she and her newborn child are now receiving postnatal care at the health center. All of this has been made possible by support from Konbit Sante through a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Project Santé.

St Jean—affectionately known by her friends and co-workers as “Tijo,” or “Miss St Jean”—is exceptionally proud of the young mother and how she has taken responsibility for both her child’s health and her own. But Daichca is not unlike hundreds of other mothers and their children who are helped by St Jean and agents de santé (community health workers) in the Cap-Haitien area—hundreds of mothers and children who are helped because of your donations to Konbit Sante.

St Jean is a Registered Nurse who has served as Konbit Sante’s community health program manager since 2012. She is responsible for helping organize activities for community outreach clinics in Petite-Anse, one of the city’s poorest communities.

Under the oversight of the Haiti MSPP (Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population, commonly known as the Ministry of Health) and with help from Konbit Sante, agents de santé provide education and prenatal examinations to pregnant women, including making referrals for regular checkups and deliveries at FSM, and supporting midwives when the mothers either cannot or choose not to deliver in the hospital. For mothers and children up to age 5, they facilitate postnatal care, including field vaccinations, follow-up exams, and education about topics ranging from family planning to nutrition.

If expectant mothers cannot pay for prenatal care at FSM, Konbit Sante arranges for their fees to be waived.

Without Konbit Sante’s help, Daichca may have never received care during her pregnancy, delivered her baby in a hospital, or received follow-up exams after delivery. It’s likely she wouldn’t have known how to care for her child before and after birth. And it’s highly likely that her daughter would not be receiving the health care and nutrition that are so critical to a child’s early years.

Your donations support that work. In this season of giving, we ask that you continue that support so women like Daichca and their children continue to get the care that they need.

Please donate today and help us continue to strengthen capacity for a healthier Haiti.