What’s On Our 2023 To-Do List?

Some ongoing work

Konbit Sante-sponsored community health workers deliver a variety of community-based services. Funded by a grant from USAID, they visit homes and community venues on foot or motos, focusing on health education, vaccinations, and postnatal visits in the low-income neighborhoods surrounding the Fort Saint Michel Hospital. Community health workers bring needed services close to where people live and act as a bridge between community members and the health center. Each month, for instance, dozens of children who meet the criteria for moderate to severe malnutrition are referred to the health center for follow-up care.

In 2016, Konbit Sante began working with Justinien Hospital pediatrics to review mortality data, looking for causes and ways to improve outcomes. Some of these causes, such as lack of sufficient electricity and oxygen, are straightforward and have been addressed. Others, such as insufficient staffing, are more complicated. Please stay tuned for more information in future newsletters.

The curriculum development continues for pediatric residents at Justinien Hospital with lectures, evaluations, and hands-on training. For more information, please see the December 21, 2022 newsletter, which will be posted here on the site soon.

Procuring and shipping life-saving medicines and supplies for a wide variety of care providers in northern Haiti continues. Please read more about this work here.

A community outreach worker weighs a baby in a neighborhood near Fort Saint Michel Hospital in October 2022.

New projects/programs

Konbit Sante volunteers, in collaboration with Hope Health Action, have been providing technical assistance and support for the design, procurement, and installation of an O2 generator for Hôpital de la Convention Baptiste (HCBH). Acquisition of an O2 generator will mean that this well-regarded and expanding hospital will no longer be dependent on oxygen bought in the marketplace, which is subject to dramatic fluctuations in availability, quality, and price. This will result in improved quality of care and financial sustainability for the hospital, as the purchase of oxygen is one of their biggest monthly expenses. Significant funds have already been raised, and we hope this will become a reality soon.

As part of our capacity-building work, Konbit Sante staff and volunteers are working with the chief of the maternity service at Justinien Hospital to develop a business plan to help the service achieve a measure of financial sustainability. This work should have a big payoff in their ability to staff and acquire needed supplies.

For more capacity-building work, Konbit Sante staff and volunteers will work with Justinien Hospital leadership, faculty, and residents to develop a year-long continuing education course focused on research methods for quality improvement. The course aims to provide medical professionals with the foundational skills needed to conduct applied quality improvement research within the hospital setting. Decision-making using these skills will then be used to improve service delivery, patient experience, and health outcomes.

An oxygen generator installed at Justinien Hospital in Cap-Haitien, June 2022.