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Day 7

One day of medical care for nine children in Haiti

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One day of medical care for nine children in Haiti
Day 7
Basic medical care for schoolchildren in Haiti

Lolo (11) and Nicolas (10) love their home country Haiti very much. But the schoolchildren also know that there are problems in their homeland. Lolo knows that Haiti is a developing country. She knows the word from her geography book. The two children live in the Cité Soleil district in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The risk of contracting tropical diseases such as typhus or cholera is particularly high here. Families often do not have reliable access to clean drinking water. There are only a few sewage pipes, so diseases spread quickly. At school, many children are not vaccinated against the highly contagious diseases in this environment. The risk of infection is therefore quite high. In order for children like Lolo and Nicolas to realize their dreams, they need a healthy environment and basic medical care. Lolo wants to be a seamstress when he grows up, and Nicolas wants to be a doctor. He wants to help people who are sick.

Basic medical care for schoolchildren in Haiti
need
Basic medical care for school children in Haiti.
activity
The Haitian medical team diagnoses and treats the children’s illnesses and carries out basic vaccinations.
Measurable performance
Number of days on which basic medical care can be provided to school children in Haiti.
Result
Children are vaccinated against the most important diseases and their health status is recorded.
Systemically relevant impact
The health and therefore the educational opportunities of children have improved. This contributes to the long-term development of the country.
background

Lolo and Nicolas, along with around 600 other children, attend the free St. Emma and St. Nicolas primary schools in the poorest part of Port-au-Prince. More than three quarters of the residents here have to live on the equivalent of less than two euros a day. In addition to poverty, health care is very poor across the country. The Haitian government spends an average of just twelve euros per person per year on the health of its citizens. In the neighboring Dominican Republic, the figure is 160 euros, and in Germany, around 4,400 euros (World Bank Group, 2017).

While in Germany there is one doctor for every 268 inhabitants, in Haiti there are 3570 inhabitants (Welt in Zahlen, 2019). Vaccination campaigns carried out by the state or international organizations only reach a small proportion of children. Since there are only a few medical facilities in Haiti, the costs are correspondingly high. Only a few families can afford vaccination there. This makes access to medical care extremely difficult and many families are largely excluded from it. For Lolo, Nicolas and other children, this unfortunately also means that they often find it difficult to keep up with school because they are absent too often due to acute illnesses. In addition, many children in Haiti still die from respiratory infections or diarrheal diseases, even though these are actually not difficult to treat.

Cité Soleil, Haiti
Day 7 Day 7
The good deed

By doing a good deed today, you are enabling the more than 600 children in St. Emma and St. Nicolas to receive regular health care. A medical team visits the schools at least twice a year, examines the children, treats the sick, vaccinates the children against acute illnesses and provides them with medication. There are also information services for the children's parents. For many of the children, this means that they are being thoroughly examined and treated by a doctor for the first time in their lives. The team also creates a patient file for each child, in which the medical history, test results and treatments are recorded. This way, development can be tracked and serious illnesses can be detected earlier. The children's health improves and with it their chance of good academic success and a better future.

AboutHaiti
Port au Prince
Port au Prince
Capital city
11,000,000
11,000,000
Population
1.665
1.665
Gross domestic product per capita per year
Rank 168 of 189
Rank 168 of 189
Human Development Index (Human Development Index)

Haiti is the only country in the world to have achieved independence through a slave revolt – and that was as early as 1804. Natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes continue to shake the country.
About the organization and further information

organization

PEN PAPER PEACE eV

website

https://pen-paper-peace.org

Initiative Transparent Civil Society

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Further links