Our partners in health: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

Muddy roads filled with rubble and debris are literal barriers to accessing health care, especially in the wake of the recent earthquake.  Thanks to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, PIH, and our partner organization Zanmi Lasante (ZL) have five new ambulances to help desperately ill patients safely and quickly reach medical facilities around Port-au-Prince and at PIH/ZL sites outside the city.
 
“The ambulances funded by JDC will help save the lives of many patients. Too often, we’ve seen patients die because they could not make it to the hospital in time,” said ZL Director of Operations Loune Viaud.
 
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the world’s largest Jewish humanitarian assistance organization, has offered much-needed funding to a wide variety of PIH/ZL’s programs and is helping Haiti to build back better. "JDC's vast experience in disaster relief is built on the valuable partnerships we have forged in the wake of heartbreaking tragedy,” said JDC CEO Steven Schwager. “We're enormously proud that together with Partners In Health, we're working to ensure the survival and long-term recovery of Haitians living in the aftermath of the earthquake."
 
In addition to funding the five ambulances, JDC is also offering assistance to PIH/ZL programs that look to the health and well-being of Haiti’s children, both in the long and short term.

JDC is supporting the production of Nourimanba, a locally produced therapeutic food for malnourished children.
Funding from JDC will also support school children in Haiti.

With food supplies around the country now dwindling, PIH/ZL medical centers are seeing an increase in the number of malnourished children coming through their doors. JDC will help our nutritional assistance program treat an additional estimated 2,200 children, a number that means the program’s capacity will grow by over 30 percent. Their funding will help ramp up production of Nourimanba and Nourimil, locally produced food treatments specifically designed for malnourished children, and will allow the program to hire clinical staff to handle the expansion.
 
JDC will also give 3,000 children the ability to attend school by supporting PIH/ZL’s education program. One of the pressing concerns among the large numbers of displaced people is the schooling of children whose families have lost their homes, whose schools have been destroyed, or who have been relocated to other areas of the country. JDC’s contributions will cover entrance fees, supplies, uniforms, and books, allowing these children to attend school without burdening their families with additional expenses. As education is one of the most effective ways of lifting people out of poverty, JDC’s support will help secure the future of thousands of children, as well as invest in the future of Haiti, said Viaud.
 
 “We’ve been so thankful for JDC’s support for our work in Haiti,” said Viaud. “It gives me hope to know that organizations like JDC are standing with Haiti and with us.”