From August 2020 to May 2021, HI and partners have helped more than 10,000 people to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hygiene
HI and its partners in Haiti distributed hygiene kits containing soap, buckets with taps, hydroalcoholic gel and other items to 1,400 families, equivalent to more than 10,000 people, and provided them with information on how to protect themselves from the virus.
We also supplied families with a cash transfer of $150 to spend on whatever they wished, mainly basic food items such as eggs, rice and pasta. This allowed them put money aside for medical care.
Rehabilitation
We provided more than 3,500 people with rehabilitation care. A total of 286 patients benefited from respiratory therapy, a type of physiotherapy that frees up the respiratory passages, strengthens breathing muscles and improves ventilation to better oxygenate the body. It is the primary treatment used for people with respiratory infections. HI and its partners also trained forty rehabilitation professionals in respiratory therapy and provided thirty-five health professionals with information about it.
Psychological support
Since the beginning of the pandemic, mental health has been a major challenge. Confinement and inactivity during the lockdown, for example, increased the anxiety and distress of many families who feared for their future.
HI and its partners trained more than four hundred health professionals to better meet the psychosocial needs of the public. They learned, for example, how to listen attentively to patients without forcing them to speak, how to comfort them, and how to guide families to sources of information and refer them to the services and social support they needed.
We provided a total of 270 patients and caregivers with psychological support. A further 130 patients took part in group therapy, enabling them to talk about their experiences. In parallel, 2,300 people benefited from a helpline funded by the project. The service provided people in distress with emergency support and reassurance. When necessary, some participants were referred to a psychologist.
Training medical staff
The NGO coalition also provided the public and medical staff with information on mental health issues, a field that is underrepresented in Haiti. Some 2,000 patients and caregivers took part in awareness sessions and learned about the role of psychologists and psychiatrists, psychological distress, and psychological care management and its importance.
HI and its partners published informative videos on Facebook, reaching more than 120,000 people, and replied to multiple questions ranging from “What is an emergency service?” to “What are the signs of psychological distress?”
Project
The FAIRE FACE à la COVID-19 (“Tackling Covid-19”) project was implemented by HI and its partners Douleurs Sans Frontières (DSF), Ansanm Pou Yon Demen Miyo An Ayiti (ADEMA), Réseau Associatif National pour l’Intégration des Personnes Handicapées (RANIPH), and Fondation Haïtienne de Réhabilitation (FONHARE). The project ran from August 2020 to June 2021 in the departments of Nord-Ouest (districts of Bombardopolis, Môle St. Nicolas and Baie-de-Hennes), Sud-Est (districts of Jacmel, Cayes-Jacmel, Marigot and Belle-Anse), Ouest, (Port-au-Prince), Nord (Cap-Haitien and Milot) and Nord-Est (Ouanaminthe).
Despite the earthquake of 14 August, HI continues to help the most vulnerable people cope with the epidemic in the north and northeast of Haiti, funded this time by Coopération Belge au Développement (DGD) until the end of 2021.
Several examples of videos published by HI and its partners in Haiti (in French and Creole):
