Haitian Health Foundation

The Haitian Health Foundation (HHF) is a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on improving the health and general well-being of women, children, families, and communities in rural southwestern Haiti. Its work is concentrated in and around Jérémie and more than 100 surrounding rural and mountain villages in Haiti's Grand'Anse region. Rather than operating as a conventional consumer brand, HHF functions as a humanitarian and community-development organization whose identity is associated with long-term, locally delivered assistance. The organization began in 1982 after Jeremiah J. Lowney, a Connecticut orthodontist, traveled to Port-au-Prince to provide free dental care to people living in poverty. During its early years, Lowney returned approximately every three months and worked with the Sisters of Charity associated with Mother Teresa. In 1985, Mother Teresa asked him to shift the group's outreach to Jérémie, where the initiative gradually expanded from volunteer dental missions into a broader social-service organization. HHF's activities are organized around four broad areas: healthcare, development, relief, and education. Its healthcare work includes an outpatient clinic, public-health outreach in remote villages, maternal-health services, nutritional rehabilitation, and assistance with specialized surgery. The organization has supported procedures such as cleft-lip surgery in Haiti and, where necessary, helped bring children to the United States for treatment unavailable locally. Its Center of Hope provides residential support for women with high-risk pregnancies and children suffering from severe malnutrition, including kwashiorkor. Community development programs address practical conditions that influence health and household resilience. The Happy House program, established in 1997, provides improved housing for poor and homeless families. HHF's sanitation work began in 1993 through the Clean Latrine project, which promoted pit toilets to reduce disease associated with inadequate waste disposal; the organization later introduced composting toilets. Livelihood assistance has included the distribution of animals to farming families. Earlier efforts distributed Kreyol pigs and chickens, while the Give a Goat initiative has focused on female breeding goats intended to support household self-sufficiency. Relief programs include Save a Family, launched in 1987 to connect sponsors in the United States, Europe, and Canada with some of the poorest families in Jérémie. Assistance can cover food, rent, children's education, and other basic needs. HHF also operates feeding programs that provide hot meals and take-home food to vulnerable groups, including children, pregnant and postpartum women, older people, and ill residents. Education initiatives provide support for children in primary and secondary schooling, both through family sponsorship and through separate education-focused programs. The foundation is supported by private foundations, individual donors, the United States Agency for International Development, and in-kind contributions. Its work received wider public attention when its maternal-health program was featured in a January 2010 episode of the PBS program NOW, filmed in Haiti around the time of the January 12 earthquake. HHF remains headquartered in Norwich, Connecticut, while its principal program operations are in Haiti. Jeremiah J. Lowney is identified as the organization's president and founder, E. Marilyn Lowney as executive director, and Nadesha Mijoba as country director.

The Haitian Health Foundation traces its origins to 1982, when Jeremiah J. Lowney, a Connecticut orthodontist, traveled to Haiti to provide free dental treatment to people living in poverty. He initially made recurring trips to Port-au-Prince and collaborated with the Sisters of Charity associated with Mother Teresa. This early volunteer effort was limited in scope, but it established the organization's central approach: combine professional services with direct engagement in underserved communities. A significant geographic and organizational transition occurred in 1985. Mother Teresa asked Lowney to move the group's outreach to Jérémie, a rural city in southwestern Haiti. From that base, the initiative developed into a permanent humanitarian organization serving Jérémie and more than 100 nearby rural and mountain villages in the Grand'Anse region. Its activities broadened beyond dentistry into outpatient medicine, maternal and child health, nutrition, sanitation, housing, education, food assistance, and community livelihoods. Healthcare became one of HHF's principal areas of work. The organization established an outpatient clinic and developed public-health outreach for remote settlements that have limited access to medical services. It also created the Center of Hope, a residential facility for women experiencing high-risk pregnancies and children affected by severe malnutrition, including kwashiorkor. HHF has helped arrange specialized operations, including cleft-lip surgery, in Haiti and has supported the transfer of children to the United States when appropriate care was not available in Haiti. HHF's development programs evolved in response to the links between poverty, environment, and health. In 1993, it began the Clean Latrine project, constructing pit toilets and promoting safer waste disposal to help reduce disease. Composting toilets were added to its sanitation work in 2016. In 1997, the Happy House program began providing improved housing for families living in extreme poverty or unsafe dwellings. The foundation also distributed animals to farming families, including Kreyol pigs and chickens, and later emphasized female breeding goats through the Give a Goat program as a way to strengthen household livelihoods. Relief and social-protection activities expanded alongside these development efforts. Save a Family began in 1987 and connected sponsors in the United States, Europe, and Canada with impoverished families in Jérémie. Sponsorship support could be used for food, rent, schooling, and other basic necessities. HHF also developed food programs serving hot meals and distributing food for home use to children, pregnant women, older adults, and people who were ill. Education programs provided assistance to thousands of children in elementary and secondary schooling, both through family sponsorship and through separate educational support. The foundation's maternal-health work gained national visibility through a PBS NOW report broadcast on January 29, 2010. The program, titled "Saving Haiti's Mothers," was filmed in Haiti around the January 12 earthquake and presented HHF's work in the context of the country's substantial humanitarian and medical needs. HHF's support base includes private foundations, individual donors, USAID, and in-kind contributors. It is headquartered in Norwich, Connecticut, and continues to operate primarily in rural southwestern Haiti.

• 2016

  Composting toilets added

  [1]Haitian Health Foundationen.wikipedia.org

  HHF began constructing composting toilets as an additional sanitation approach.

• 2010

  Maternal-health work receives PBS coverage

  [1]Haitian Health Foundationen.wikipedia.org

  PBS NOW broadcast a report on HHF's maternal-health program in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake.

• 1997

  Happy House program begins

  [1]Haitian Health Foundationen.wikipedia.org

  HHF started its housing initiative for families living in extreme poverty or unsafe makeshift dwellings.

• 1993

  Clean Latrine project begins

  [1]Haitian Health Foundationen.wikipedia.org

  The foundation began constructing pit toilets and promoting safer sanitation in communities lacking adequate waste-disposal infrastructure.

• 1987

  Save a Family begins

  [1]Haitian Health Foundationen.wikipedia.org

  HHF launched a sponsorship program linking donors in North America and Europe with poor families in Jérémie.

• 1985

  Outreach moves to Jérémie

  [1]Haitian Health Foundationen.wikipedia.org

  At Mother Teresa's request, Lowney's volunteer outreach shifted from Port-au-Prince to Jérémie in southwestern Haiti, establishing the foundation's long-term geographic focus.

• 1982

  Founding healthcare mission

  [1]Haitian Health Foundationen.wikipedia.org

  Jeremiah J. Lowney began traveling from Connecticut to Haiti to provide free dental care to people living in poverty.

A long-term, community-based humanitarian organization combining direct healthcare with housing, sanitation, food security, education, and livelihood support for poor rural communities in southwestern Haiti.

• Healthcare

  Outpatient clinic and village health outreach

  HHF operates outpatient healthcare and extends public-health services into Jérémie's surrounding rural and mountain villages. The outreach model is intended for communities with limited access to formal medical facilities and forms the foundation's principal direct-health service.

• Maternal and child health

  Center of Hope

  A residential facility supporting women with high-risk pregnancies and children experiencing severe malnutrition, including kwashiorkor. The facility combines accommodation with medical, nutritional, and social support.

• Housing · 1997

  Happy House

  Established in 1997, Happy House provides improved housing for homeless and impoverished families who otherwise live in fragile or unsafe structures. It represents HHF's effort to treat housing as a social and health determinant.

• Sanitation · 1993

  Clean Latrine

  The Clean Latrine project constructs pit toilets and promotes safer disposal of human waste. Its purpose is to improve sanitation and reduce disease associated with inadequate waste-management systems.

• Livelihood development

  Give a Goat

  Give a Goat distributes female breeding goats to impoverished farming families. The program is designed to support household self-sufficiency through livestock ownership and reproduction.

• Family relief and sponsorship · 1987

  Save a Family

  Save a Family connects sponsors with some of the poorest families in Jérémie. Contributions can support food, housing costs, children's education, and other essential household needs.

• Relief

  Food and feeding programs

  HHF provides hot meals and take-home food to vulnerable residents in Jérémie and the surrounding mountains, including children, perinatal women, older people, and people who are ill.

• Education

  Education assistance

  Education programs assist children with primary and secondary schooling. Support is provided both through Save a Family sponsorships and through education initiatives operating separately from family relief.

• 2010Saving Haiti's Mothers media feature

  United States · Haiti

  HHF's maternal-health work was presented in a PBS NOW report filmed in Haiti around the January 2010 earthquake.

  Outcome. The broadcast brought broader public attention to the foundation's maternal-health services.

  Source
• 1997Happy House

  Haiti

  A housing campaign for homeless and impoverished families living in unsafe or makeshift dwellings.

  Outcome. The initiative expanded HHF's role from medical assistance into housing and community development.

  Source
• 1987Save a Family

  Haiti · United States · Canada · Europe

  A cross-border sponsorship initiative linking donors with poor families in Jérémie and helping fund food, rent, education, and other necessities.

  Outcome. The program became part of HHF's continuing relief and family-support work.

  Source

• 2016

  Add composting toilets to sanitation workStrategy

  Background

  HHF had worked on sanitation since 1993 through pit-latrine construction and related public-health efforts.

  Action taken

  The foundation began constructing composting toilets as an additional sanitation solution.

  Aftermath

  The change broadened HHF's sanitation toolkit for communities with inadequate waste-disposal infrastructure.

  Source

• 1985

  Shift the primary field base to JérémieStrategy

  Background

  The original volunteer effort had begun in Port-au-Prince, but Mother Teresa asked Jeremiah J. Lowney to move the outreach to rural Jérémie.

  Action taken

  HHF relocated its principal outreach focus to Jérémie and subsequently developed services for the city's rural and mountain communities.

  Aftermath

  The move established the geographic base from which HHF expanded into healthcare, relief, education, and development programs across Grand'Anse.

  Source

1. 1Haitian Health Foundationen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Haitian Health Foundation official websitehaitianhealthfoundation.org