Lamp’s Child Nutrition program treats malnourished children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years. The number of children needing this intervention has skyrocketed over the past few years. The political and security crisis in Haiti has resulted in a near-total collapse of normal economic activities and this impact has been felt most strongly by those living on the edge of survival – that is, the poorest of the poor, Lamp’s clients.
This message is, however, one of hope. UNICEF Haiti has identified Lamp for Haiti as an agency that is able to provide effective, accountable services for children and has provided Lamp with a large quantity of Ready to Eat Therapeutic Food (RUTF). This is food that provides the ideal mix of nutritional elements for malnourished children. It has a base of peanut butter – which is why we often call it medika mamba, meaning “peanut butter medicine” in Haitian Creole – mixed with powdered milk, sugar and the necessary vitamins and minerals.
UNICEF provided a similar amount last year, a key donation that allowed Lamp to confidently expand its program. This time, UNICEF also provided several key supplements and medicines that are essential to a complete Nutrition program, including Vitamin A, iron, and deworming medicine.
Of course, consumable products – vital though they are — are not the only resources needed for a rapidly growing Child Nutrition program. With hundreds of children visiting Lamp each day, we must ensure that staffing and facilities are sufficient. We will, in fact, be hiring an additional nurse within the next month to reduce the strain on our very busy staff.
Lamp for Haiti is eager to maintain this very fruitful partnership with UNICEF. UNICEF itself maintains a close relationship with the Haitian government and this is a positive thing for Lamp, since we also work closely with the Ministry of Health in all of our programming. Lamp provides detailed reports on its Child Nutrition program to the Ministry.
Note that Haiti is currently in a full-blown food-security crisis. It is estimated that 6 million people (of a national total of 11.3 million) are currently experiencing acute food insecurity. Of these, 1.8 million are at an emergency level, meaning that they are in imminent danger of starvation. The UN’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti is only 20% funded. To date, the United Nations World Food Program has provided food assistance to approximately 200,000 people but even this level of assistance must be sustained to be effective over the long term.
Lamp for Haiti will, of course, do whatever it can to assist. We have indicated to UN agencies that we are willing to manage distributions as necessary. At this point, systematic food distribution via international organizations is rare in Port-au-Prince – we know of only one effort, and it takes place only once per month. But we stand ready to assist as needed. There are few other organizations with our ability to work effectively within Cité Soleil. Until that time, we will continue to expand our Child Nutrition services, thanks to you, our supporters, and through our partnerships with agencies such as UNICEF. Haiti is in a fragile state and we must act together to achieve the best outcomes possible.
