It was 11 o’clock one February morning when the Santé pour le Développement et la Stabilité d’Haiti (SDSH) project technical team arrived on site at St. Joseph Health Center.
The center’s activities were well underway. Dozens of people sat on benches or stood in line, waiting for their turn. One person comes to care for her child who has had a high fever. Another comes for contraception. Another just gave birth to a healthy infant.
St. Joseph Health Center is located in Abricots, a remote community in the department of Grande’Anse, Haiti, far from Port-au-Prince. Abricots is nearly inaccessible because of rough terrain and hazardous mountain trails.
Since 2007, with support from the USAID-funded SDSH project, led by Management Sciences for Health (MSH), St. Joseph Health Center has provided a basic package of health services: pediatrics, maternal health, reproductive health, detection and treatment of sexually-transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and family planning.
This free clinic is the only health institution in this hard-to-reach area, serving an estimated 32,000 people.