Hope for Haiti Excels at Unite For Sight’s Global Health and Innovation Conference

 
Jennifer Lang, Program Manager April 27, 2012

On April 21, 2012, Hope for Haiti was honored to share our Pilot School-based Public Health Program to attendees of Unite for Sight’s Global Health and Innovation Conference. Based at Yale University, this year’s Conference focused on making a sustainable difference in the fight against poverty worldwide by extending public health education and interventions.

Community Health Worker administering Vitamin A to students under 5	Hope for Haiti Community Health Workers

Keynote speaker Jeffrey Sachs highlighted the need for more Community Health Workers in Africa to truly reach the poorest of the poor in their homes and schools. Back in Southern Haiti, Hope for Haiti has successfully trained 24 Community Health Workers (CHWs) who live and work in 12 rural communities. Each CHW teaches at least one hour of Public Health curriculum per week to students at the local Hope for Haiti supported school. They also extend their knowledge through community meetings and first aid. This innovative approach has extended healthcare access to over 2,400 students at a cost of less than $15 per student/year.

We were honored to present at Unite For Sight and share our mission with other talented individuals in the fields of international development and healthcare. Hope for Haiti representatives were able to learn about new technologies aimed at improving healthcare in low-resource settings and to meet with other organizations working around the world. Honest Tea President and keynote speaker Seth Goldman summarized the feeling of the Conference when he cited a Chinese proverb to an audience filled with those working to make a difference; “Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it.”

For more information about Unite For Sight or the Global Health and Innovation Conference please click on the link below:

http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference/

A special thank you to Hesperian Health Guides for providing the global health community with accessible Knowledge for Action: http://hesperian.org