August has been a busy and productive month for HHA, so we thought we'd update you on some of the highlights...
HAITI
COVID19: We are grateful that COVID19 numbers in Haiti haven't grown to the levels feared at the start of the summer. Never the less, our COVID19 team (pictured above) have continued their amazing response. Our COVID19 treatment centre which was certified as one of Haiti's national referral centres has provided care to 23 suspected COVID19 patients so far. Some of these patients have had severe symptoms, receiving life-saving treatment thanks to your help. A huge thanks to everyone who has got behind out Emergency Appeal this summer. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR HAITI HEROES
NEW HOSPITAL KITCHEN: We've also started work with partners Haiti Rehab Schweiz on the building of a new hospital kitchen which will be a great boost for the hospital since it's previous cafeteria was badly damaged from a falling tree over a year ago. This new kitchen will improve care for patients, family members, staff and visitors and should be finished in September!
CRADLE PROJECT: Many of you know how passionate we are about the CRADLE Blood Pressure device, an amazing, cost effective device that helps identify high risk pregnancies early on and has saved countless lives in Haiti since we first started distributing the device. This week we had the privilege to provide training and 30 new devices to 3 Government hospitals in North East Haiti. One medic said, 'we are amazed a small device like this can have such a big impact.'
Alongside these activities, we've continued supporting the day to day running of our partner hospital. In one week during the summer our maternity unit had 30 deliveries!
EAST AFRICA
EMERGENCY FOOD AID: Thanks to a very generous donation, we've been able to start a 6 month emergency food distribution programme. In the last month we've provided food rations to 600 vulnerable persons displaced by the South Sudan war, many with disabilities. Food rations amongst the refugees was cut by 30% a few months ago and COVID19 restrictions have impacted people's livelihood opportunities, further increasing food insecurity amongst refugees. This food relief is a huge blessing.
AGRICULTURE SUPPORT: As part of this food distribution programme, we've also equipped and trained 230 individuals (many with disabilities) with agricultural materials (tools, seeds etc.) so they can produce their own harvests. This has proved to be a hugely successful project in the last few years and we're excited to have had the chance to scale this project up in 2020. This has included introducing the project to a remote location in South Sudan and supporting 50 farmers there!
SCHOOL AID: The civil war in South Sudan has badly impacted the education of many children. Thanks to some wonderful donors, we've been able to start providing some aid to 4 schools supporting displaced children. In the last week this primary school were delighted to receive some new text books! There's lots more work to be done on this project in the coming months. Pop back soon for some very exciting and special announcements.
In the UK we've also been busy, including working on a new website which will be launched very soon!
