IMA World Health Treats More Than 1 million Haitians in June

IMA Distributes Medicine to Combat Neglected Tropical Disease

IMA World Health (IMA) provided medicine to more than one million people in the first three weeks of June to control and prevent Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) in Haiti.

IMA worked with the Haitian Ministries of Health and Education to set up hundreds of distribution points in the Northeast, West, and Southern areas of the country, reaching large numbers of people through Mass Drug Administration (MDA).

Medicine distributed under the NTD program eliminates or controls two common diseases. Lymphatic Filariasis (commonly known as Elephantiasis) causes swelling of the limbs. The Lymphatic Filariasis medicine distributed by IMA eliminates the worms in the bloodstream that cause the swelling. Taking the medicines annually can prevent the disease, and can control the disease if already contracted. The same is true of the other targeted disease, Soil Transmitted Helminthes -- a soil-transmitted type of intestinal parasite.   

The IMA-led program is a success story from Washington D.C. to the dusty streets of Haiti. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through RTI International, the program is supported by the Haitian Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education.

Within Haiti, the NTD Control Program becomes a real grass roots effort in the community. Days before a distribution begins volunteers walk the streets with megaphones reminding residents to come and receive treatment. Once the distribution begins, these same volunteers work long days handing out medication and logging important information. More than 4,000 IMA-trained community volunteers participated in the first three weeks of June alone.

The NTD Control Program had been suspended as the country recovered from the devastating earthquake in January.  But in April, IMA reactivated the MDA at the request of the Haitian Ministry of Health and treated more than 270,000 people near the city of Cap Haitien. The next phase of the MDA will take place in the fall of 2010.  By the end of 2011, the program partners plan to achieve national coverage.

“IMA World Health is committed to helping Haitians recover from this disaster and to provide health and other related services,” said IMA President and CEO Rick Santos.  “The Neglected Tropical Disease program is back on-track and, with the help of our partner agencies, we will do much more in the months to come.”