Well-Baby/Well-Child Check-up and Vaccination Program

HVH provides free well-baby and well-child check-ups to children in the area, where each child is given a comprehensive exam which includes assessment of general health, measurement of height and weight for children under five and consultation for any children requiring medical care. If specialty care is indicated, the children are referred to one of our medical facilities, dental or ophthalmology clinics. Each child is given a three month supply of vitamins, and receives appropriate medications for deworming and skin infestation. The check-ups also include the provision of a critical series of childhood vaccinations over a two-year period, including oral polio, Diptheria-Pertussis, and Tetanus, and Measles and Rubella.

These check-ups take place at both the clinics and week long vaccination outreach trips to surrounding Bas Limbe villages, staffed by visiting volunteer teams of pediatric and family practice physicians and nurses working side by side with the Agence Sante’s and the Haitian medical staff at HVH. The outreach trips typically treat 600-700 children per journey. During these check-ups, HVH provides a de-worming program and has provided medications to almost every child in the region on at least one occasion, leading to significant improvement in child health. Over the course of 2011 alone, over 1300 medical assessments were provided to children in the region, and almost 1000 vaccinations were administered.

Medika Mamba Program: Nutritional Support for Severely Malnourished Children

While the village of Bod Me Limbe has been a fishing and farming community for well over 100 years and does fare better than much of Haiti, childhood malnutrition remains a major concern. Besides the efforts of HVH, there are no other nutritional supplement services in the region. HVH provides the only nutritional supplement program for severely malnourished children in the entire Bas Limbe region through its partnership with Meds and Food For Kids (www.medsandfoodforkids.org). During Well-Child check ups, children who appear malnourished are inducted into the program after being screened and provided with medical attention. This program is a properly monitored nutritional support supplement for severely malnourished children utilizing a locally grown Haitian peanut butter called Mamba. The distribution is regulated and children receive regular follow-ups to gauge the effectiveness of the supplement. Currently 18 children are in the program, and HVH is looking to expand its reach if additional funding can be found.

In addition, HVH educates mothers on how to get the most nutritional value from the locally available food sources with particular attention paid to the locally produced high calorie/high protein Mamba.