GHI Partnership in Haiti; Lois Quam, GHI Executive Director

I traveled to Haiti for the second time this year with GHI Senior Advisor Chris Dorval and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby. We joined Charlotte Eddis, the knowledgeable and motivated U.S. Global Health Coordinator in Haiti, who led us to hospitals where USG partners have worked to maintain and, in some cases, exceed pre-earthquake health levels.

In the wake of the January 2010 earthquake, hospitals grappled with structural damage, power outages, and a surge of desperate patients. Yet, the US and partners have helped keep open more than 251 primary care and 52 secondary care facilities nationwide. With an influx of post-earthquake international assistance, the USG Haiti strategy focuses on geographic "corridors" to help partners recognize which geographic zones need which kinds of development support. We visited the North Corridor, which pivots around the new Caracol Industrial Park and housing settlements. USAID has begun upgrading two hospitals in the North Corridor's principal city of Cap Haiten, and the USG has provided ambulances, boreholes, and public latrine blocs. This integrated approach to health systems strengthening has proven effective. In fact, several national health indicators have even exceeded pre-earthquake levels, including vaccination, HIV testing for pregnant women, and a projected eradication of the disabling disease Lymphatic Filariasis from the island.

There are many partner projects strengthening health systems too. For example, we visited the inspirational Hopital Bienfaisance de Pignon in the north-central plateau highlands. Haitian-born U.S. Air Force veteran Dr. Guy Theodore returned to Pignon and founded the NGO Comite de Bienfaisance de Pignon (CBP) in 1984. CBP has trained local nurses and developed a sixty-five bed hospital with four nearby satellite clinics and hospitals, altogether serving 168,000 people. Eleven elected board members represent CBP and work with diverse advisors -- medical professionals, organizations, donors, and partners -- to achieve a long-term, self-sustaining health system for the people of Pignon.

A main GHI principle is to strengthen and leverage key multilateral organizations and global health partnerships. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten signed the first ever GHI Partnership Framework in Port-au-Prince on June 26. The new Partnership Framework addresses the need for Haiti to take additional responsibility in the procurement, monitoring and management of development resources. Haiti's country ownership will be critical as the USG's supplemental funding following the 2010 earthquake and cholera outbreak gives way to a longer-term technical assistance role. Just prior to the signing, we visited an emergency room at Haiti's University and Educational Hospital in Port-au-Prince where the government of France is providing technical assistance at the teaching hospital, the USG is making physical improvements, and the government of Haiti is reforming the ward's functions. This collaborative synergy is what the GHI Partnership Framework is all about, making global health greater than the sum of its parts.