Background

Medical Missionaries intends to eliminate a disease that affects many residents of Thomassique and the surrounding areas, Lymphatic Filariasis (LF), also known as Elephantiasis.  At the same time, Medical Missionaries will address the leading preventable cause of impaired cognitive brain development in children, the lack of sufficient iodine in their diet.  Both of these health problems are prevalent in the Thomassique region.  As a matter of fact, the largest number of surgeries performed by a visiting team of surgeons and nurses at St. Joseph’s clinic in February 2009 were for hydroceles, a problem related to LF.

The Program

Medical Missionaries is partnering with the University of Notre Dame Haiti Program to distribute co-fortified salt in one of the outlying villages of Thomassique, Baranque.  The University of Notre Dame, working with the Haitian Ministry of Health and Population and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, fortifies salt with DEC (diethylcarbamazine) and iodine without changing the taste or other characteristics of salt.  Salt fortified with DEC is an effective way to interrupt the transmission of LF, while salt fortified with iodine promotes brain development in children.  The co-fortified salt addresses these diseases in tandem.

Lymphatic Filariasis is a parasitic disease that causes disfiguring conditions of the legs and genitalia and often becomes debilitating.  Iodine deficiency limits the development of the brains of children and, in some cases of both children and adults, causes goiter, cretinism, and other serious health problems.

In the fortification process, the Notre Dame Haiti Program puts the salt through an intense purification process and then fortifies it with DEC to interrupt transmission of LF, and with iodine, which is essential for proper brain development.  Quality controls during the manufacture process assure that the correct dosages of the fortificants are added to the salt.

Medical Missionaries will purchase salt from the Notre Dame manufacturing plant in Port au Prince and will, in conjunction with local salt distributors in Thomassique and Baranque, sell the salt to all the residents of Baranque one of the six outlying villages in Thomassique.  The salt will be sold for the same price that non-fortified salt is currently sold for.

Medical Missionaries will also mount an education and promotion program in Baranque to (a) explain to the residents the importance of using fortified salt, and (b) teach them how to use it correctly.  The latter is needed because residents often wash their salt before using it.  Washing the co-fortified salt would rob it of its fortificants and defeat the purpose of the program.

Arrangements With The Salt Distributors

Medical Missionaries will purchase the salt in Port au Prince and transport it to Thomassique.  It will sell the salt to the main salt distributor for the city at the same price or less than she currently pays to acquire non-fortified salt.  (The distributor also saves the transportation costs.)  That distributor will then sell the salt to the Baranque distributor who, in turn, will sell it to the residents of Baranque for the same price they are currently paying for non-fortified salt.

The Promotion And Education Program

Introduction of this new product will require promotion to and education of the residents of Baranque.  Residents who go to church in Baranque will hear messages about the value of co-fortified salt after church services.  They will be taught the benefits of using co-fortified salt.  Local politicians will be recruited to reinforce the messages of the promotion campaign.  Posters and flyers will be distributed throughout the village.  (They will be highly visual since many in the village do not read.)  A couple of large banners will be hung in the village (at public water fountains, churches, and other public gathering places).

Looking Ahead

Medical Missionaries staff and volunteers will carefully monitor the success of this program.  Assuming that it is successful in Baranque, Medical Missionaries will seek to expand the program to all of Thomassique and the rest of its outlying villages.

 

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