Medicine For Peace Women’s Health Program Reaches Milestone
The situation in Haiti deteriorated dramatically in 2023. Armed gangs terrorized all metropolitan Port-au-Prince (PAP) and the gang warfare spilled over into neighboring areas. Kidnappings, murders, and sexual assaults on women and girls have become commonplace.
People living in the countryside have escaped most of the violence. However, political instability, worsening inflation, and the inability to transport food and goods because of road blockades have taken a toll on the health of the population, especially children. More than half of the population living in rural areas are now in extreme poverty. Hunger, leading to acute childhood malnutrition, is the worst in Haiti’s history.
Despite the countrywide violence, Medicine For Peace health programs continue to see large numbers of patients. On August 9, 2023, the MFP Women’s Health Program in Gros Morne reached a milestone by caring for its 10,000th patient. The patient, Madame Bazile Celania, a 52-year-old woman from Mioc, celebrated the occasion with the MFP staff at Alma Mater Hospital.
Dr. Michael Viola, Director of MFP said, “We are proud of our nurse practitioners, doctors, and community health workers who have worked tirelessly to improve the lives of women in Gros Morne. Through earthquakes, hurricanes, a cholera epidemic, and now unprecedented civil violence, we have not closed our doors.”
Initiated in 2010, the MFP Women’s Health Program cares for patients at Alma Mater Hospital and at 19 dispensaries in remote rural villages. The centerpiece of the program is cervical cancer prevention and treatment, but MFP care providers also treat women with sexually transmitted infections (including HIV/AIDS), other gynecological disorders, promote maternal health, and extend palliative care to women with advanced cancer. We utilize telemedicine and innovative technologies while delivering compassionate, personal medical care.
Dr. Viola continued, “During this period of insecurity from the threat of armed criminal gangs, it is critical that humanitarian assistance not retreat from Haiti but continue to support Haitian health institutions. The MFP achievement demonstrates that life-saving progress is possible, even in a period of severe civil disruption.”