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Nutrition & Healthcare Program
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 started with a focus in education, but in 1997 Founder and President, JoAnne Kuehner, joined forces with Dr. Keith Hussey, a gastroenterologist to expand the organization’s initiatives to include nutrition and healthcare. quickly discovered that providing support for nutrition and healthcare was absolutely critical to continue educational success. The education of children cannot be successful when children and their parents have no access to quality medical care or if they are suffering from severe malnutrition. Today, touches the lives of over 500,000 men, women, and children by providing financial and medical support to over 60 nutrition and healthcare centers, in addition to distributing over $10 million worth of needed medications every year.
To provide the Haitian people with access to quality healthcare.
To cure malnutrition in children under the age of five.
Haiti’s current healthcare system is insufficient to meet even the minimum medical needs of her people. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) states that only 60% of Haiti’s population has some form of access to healthcare, whereas the other 40% rely on traditional medicine in the rural areas. Haiti’s population is over 9 million, leaving more than 3,600,000 people without any medical care each year. The Haitian men, women, and children depend on outside organizations and private donors to provide assistance to fill the gaps of even their basic healthcare needs.
The lack of access and quality of healthcare creates significant delays in the country’s development. No medical treatment or medications keeps men and women from working and children from going to school. Keeping the Haitian people healthy is critical in the overall development of their country.
The most critical time in a child’s development is under the age of five. The exceptionally high mortality rate of Haitian children under five years of age is predominately the cause of malnutrition and dehydration. The overwhelming poverty and lack of sanitation leaves many children prone to suffer from this easily treatable and preventable condition. If the child does survive, the years of malnutrition greatly affect their brain functioning, immune system, and overall physical/mental wellbeing. Treating cases of malnutrition early is critical to a child’s survival.
has seen how medical nutrition programs can quickly transform a lifeless child suffering from malnutrition, into an energetic, playful boy or girl. The programs that supports provide both nutrition and medical treatment for the child in addition to education for the parents in prevention and care for their children. In the regions where these programs are located, staff members have seen a substantial reduction in cases of malnutrition, meaning that more children are staying healthy, more are going to school, and more families are learning about proper nutrition and healthcare methods to keep their loved ones well.
supports our partner nutrition and healthcare programs with financial resources, in-kind donations of medications and medical supplies, as well as providing volunteer medical support through mobile medical missions. We receive medical donations in the form of medications, supplies, and equipment that are then shipped to Haiti and distributed directly to partner nutrition and healthcare centers. also organizes Mobile Medical Teams to provide assistance to existing facilities, in addition to providing mobile medical outreach to rural populations. ’s support provides our programs with the resources they need to ensure that all their patients can receive quality accessible care.
- $20,000 sends $1 Million worth of life saving medications.
- $10,000 funds the operations of a medical nutrition clinic for 4 months, saving the lives of over 1,600 children under the age of 5 who are suffering from severe malnutrition.
- $5,000 helps provide prenatal care services to women in rural villages to promote healthy pregnancies.
- $1,000 sends $50,000 worth of vitamins and worm medication for children under 5.
- $100 provides a midwife in a rural village with the medical supplies needed to perform safe home deliveries.
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