Programs: Les Centres GHESKIO
Facts
Announced:
October 12, 2010
Category:
Critical Unmet Needs
Grant Amount: $908,700
Disbursed to Date: $494,181
Grant Objective:
To fund continued medical care including cholera treatment and training centers; to maintain school operations; to promote workforce development program; and to expand microcredit services to eligible tent residences.
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Attendees at GHESKIO's vocational school gain new carpentry skills.
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President Clinton with dozens of GHESKIO staff members.
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Students learn how to build a solid foundation at GHESKIO's vocational school.
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Jenna Bush Hager and President Bush visit with school children at GHESKIO.
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Boys at the GHESKIO school try to focus on the lesson plan.
When the outbreak of cholera began, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund responded. We worked with GHESKIO, a Haitian medical research and care center for HIV and tuberculosis patients, to reallocate some of their grant funding towards emergency cholera relief. This included setting up training centers on the fight against cholera; training on prevention and curing cholera for all GHESKIO employees; distribution of clear water kits with purification tablets, rehydration salts, and antibiotics; distributing drinking water; and offering technical support to the Ministry of Health.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’s $908,700 grant to GHESKIO is supporting the socioeconomic needs of the GHESKIO residents through a multi-faceted approach that includes lifesaving activities – including cholera treatment and prevention – and livelihood promotion activities that include basic education, vocational training, and access to microcredit.
Why We Invested in Les Centres GHESKIO
Our grant to GHESKIO represents our commitment to filling near-term gaps that lay the foundation for longer-term reconstruction, by supporting the medical and social services displaced Haitians need and creating economic opportunity through workforce development and microfinance.
Ongoing Medical Care
- Rapid response to the cholera outbreak through treatment centers and training sites.
- Continued provision of healthcare, sanitation, and other basic services to camp residents, including disease screenings, immunizations, orthopedic and rehabilitation services, nutrition programs for children and pregnant women, prenatal care, and activities geared toward awareness against gender-based violence.
- Continued running of the only tuberculosis testing site for Port-au-Prince and its surroundings.
Transforming Lives and Livelihoods
- Maintain a pre-kindergarten and elementary school that gives 400 children access to education and psycho-social counseling.
- Launch a workforce development program in construction trades and marketable skills for 600 men and women, in partnership with the Salesian order.
- Expand microcredit services to patients and other eligible camp residents benefitting from GHESKIO's services, particularly targeting the adult female population, and the young entrepreneurs graduating from the GHESKIO vocational school.
About Les Centres GHESKIO
GHESKIO Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was the first institution in the world dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS. It has provided continuous medical care in Haiti since 1982 without ever shutting its doors or charging fees. In response to the January 12th earthquake, Les Centres GHESKIO, a Haitian medical research and care center for HIV and tuberculosis patients, accommodated 7,000 people in its site in downtown Port-au-Prince, providing emergency care and assistance. In addition to health programs, GHESKIO focuses on holistic assistance. Their other programs include microfinance loans to small business owners as well as schools which give children access to education and psycho-social counseling.
