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