What We Do

Haiti: Zanmi Lasante

Zanmi Lasante

Zanmi Lasante was founded in 1983 by a group of doctors and community organizers who believe that the poor deserve no less than the best medical treatment and medications available. Understanding that the root causes of poor health lie in the structural violence of poverty, Zanmi Lasante offers comprehensive social and medical support to its patients, providing them not only with health care, but also with access to potable water, adequate food and housing, schooling, and economic opportunities.
 
In addition to Zanmi Lasante's emergency response, MADRE supports the clinic's women’s health program, which provides pre- and post-natal care, vaccinations for women and children, and screening and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer. The clinic also has a mobile health care unit, which provides high-quality health care for women and girls who are unable to travel to the clinic itself.

Providing Comprehensive Health Care to Impoverished Communities

The Zanmi Lasante Social-medical Complex includes a 104-bed hospital, a 30-bed infectious disease center, a women's health clinic, an outpatient clinic, an ophthalmology clinic, a laboratory, a pharmaceutical warehouse and radiographic services. In addition to providing health care to patients at the clinic itself, Zanmi Lasante also trains community health care workers who travel to the countryside to provide daily DOT (Directly Observed Therapy) for HIV/AIDS and TB patients.

Social and Economic Rights

Through its Program on Social and Economic Rights, Zanmi Lasante addresses the social inequalities that put their patients at an increased risk of disease, including lack of access to potable water, education, nutrition and housing. In the past year alone, Zanmi Lasante has undertaken dozens of water projects in rural villages, trained and employed over 50 teachers for both child and adult literacy programs, built 52 houses for patients who were previously living in sub-standard conditions, and provided daily meals for over 2,000 malnourished children and infants.