What happens when USAID disappears? Women and children suffer.

At top: A healthy baby ready to be weighed at a community health rally in Cap-Haitien.

With the stroke of a pen, a critical public health initiative in the north of Haiti has come to an abrupt and untimely end. It didn’t have to be this way.

In 2005, Konbit Sante launched a USAID-funded community outreach program focused on pre-natal, post-natal, and newborn care in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, with Hôpital Fort Saint Michel, a public hospital.

Twenty years later, following a raft of presidential executive orders and other actions taken to eviscerate USAID, we sadly announce the shuttering of this highly impactful community outreach program.

The loss of this program does not endanger Konbit Sante as an organization. The rest of our work, which is supported by individual and private donors, will continue. However, the shutdown creates a significant, tangible void in the Fort Saint Michel community.

As a direct result of this mandated stoppage:

• Thousands of children will no longer receive essential vaccinations and vitamins.
• Community health workers will no longer run family planning clinics, educate women about their pregnancies, or monitor the conditions of expectant mothers and infants.
• Thirty workers in all, including community health workers, nurses, lab technicians, and support staff, are no longer working at Fort Saint Michel.

Our hope is that foreign development assistance, not just in Haiti but globally, will resume. Families, particularly women and children in the most vulnerable places on earth, rely on the generosity of the American people.

Konbit Sante remains a staunch and unwavering supporter of the Haitian people. While policies may affect our ability to fund certain programs, nothing will diminish our motivation to make a difference in the communities we serve.

Your generosity and commitment enable us to continue the work and make the impact so essential to improved health outcomes in the north of Haiti.

Together, we can overcome this challenge and continue building a healthier Haiti.

Thank you.

Perry Newman
Executive Director