AMI in Haiti

AMI in Haiti

Objective

Give a global, quality answer to hygienic, psychic and social needs of street children and adolescents in the city of Port-Au-Prince

Context

Street children in Haiti are a big social issue. Indeed they are the first to suffer from the worsening national context [degradation of socioeconomic conditions, increasing pauperization of the country, continuous migrations to urban areas], 50% of them dying during the first four years of their life in the streets. That is the reason why AMI decided to start a program in 2004 to help the more fragile street children, giving access to a social contact based on mutual trust and recognition, and to primary health care for those who dare not ask for any help. AMI’s outreach policy [meeting directly children in the field without asking them to go to any given place] is unique in Haiti. Thus, 64.6% of AMI’s consultations were directly held in the streets of Port-au-Prince. AMI’s teams had to cope with the tension that was constantly plaguing the city of Port-au-Prince [demonstrations, insecurity, robberies, rapes, kidnappings, crimes, assassinations] before the presidential and parliamentary elections were held.

Program

Parallel to the census of street children started in 2004, AMI’s mission in Haiti now focuses on four lines of activity:
 Health care: giving street children and adolescents access to quality health care and adequate medical follow-up through the creation of a mobile medical clinic
 Prevention: informing and raising awareness among street children about risk behavior and its consequences, particularly regarding the dangers of HIV/AIDS transmission, to which street children are much exposed [prevalence rate extremely high (5.9%) compared to the national average (3.4%)]

Two complementary lines of activity were set up in October 2005:

 Risk behavior: dealing more specifically with conditions related to risk behavior, for instance in terms of reproductive health [family planning, contraception, mother and child health] and drug addiction, as well as encouraging HIV screening and treating infected children
 Psychosocial assistance and education: striving for the reinsertion of street children and adolescents in Haitian society through psychosocial and educative activities [organizing focus groups, offering various art, sports or recreation activities]

Results

 2,550 consultations [among which 2,395 primary health care and 157 specialized health care consultations]
 178 children treated for infections and sexually transmitted diseases
 38 children taken in to hospital
 555 awareness sessions on HIV/AIDS, i.e. 3,885 street children and adolescents involved, and 68,560 condoms distributed
 15 peers trained by AMI then responsible for disseminating prevention messages to their peers in the street
 2,160 awareness sessions carried out by peer educators
 Development of partnerships [with hospitals, drop-in centers, screening centers, etc.] so as to create a multidisciplinary solidarity network for street children at risk and/or infected by HIV/AIDS