NCC's Christmas gift helps poor mothers in Haiti
NCC's 2014 Christmas donation is now being used to provide poor mothers in Haiti with medical help for complicated births. Health care is too expensive for the majority of the population of the country.
The international disaster relief organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) received 750,000 sek from NCC's Christmas gift in 2014. The money is going to be of great humanitarian benefit to the Caribbean island of Haiti. Their health care is largely privatized and most people cannot afford to get medical attention.
"We have been active on the island since 1991 and we have seen their needs change. One thing is that infant mortality is five or six times higher here than in the neighboring Caribbean countries," says Katharina Ervanius, business manager of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Sweden.
Emergency hospital with free care
In the capital city Port-au-Prince, msf run an emergency hospital with 130 beds, which provide free care 24 hours a day. The hospital includes, among other things, a maternity ward which specializes in dealing with complications.
At the hospital, there is also access to family planning support, psychological support and help to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child. There is also a ward for pregnant women infected with cholera.
Haiti still suffering
The country is still suffering the consequences of the huge earthquake, which hit the country in 2010. The cholera epidemic which broke out is still rife and gets worse every year during the rainy season.
Since the catastrophe, 700,000 people have been afflicted with cholera. MSF have been able to treat a third of them. The organization also works with four other hospitals and clinics.
It was the staff, clients, collaborators and friends of NCC who helped choose how last year's Christmas gift would be distributed. Over 8,100 people took part and 68 per cent chose Médecins Sans Frontières. SOS Children's Villages and Save the Children also received 125,000 sek each. See how we voted.