HEALTH FOR HUMANITY - BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Origins

We are a small organization, based in the lower mainland, run entirely by volunteers with minimal administrative overhead. We consider ourselves to be privileged to be living in Canada and wanted to give something back to the developing world that is helping to support our comfortable lifestyle in Canada. We wanted to donate our skills directly and know first hand that our contribution was reaching the people that needed it.

Health for Humanity Service Society is a registered charity working in Guatemala and other developing countries. Founded in 2001, we are a team of health care professionals who volunteer our skills to provide practical health care services and support in places of need.

The Early Years

Since our first surgical mission to Guatemala in 2002 we have completed more than a 1200 surgeries and supplied much needed medical equipment to the hospitals we work in.  All our medical/surgical mission volunteers travel and stay at their own expense.  All donated funds, equipment, supplies and medications are used in the hospitals/communities we visit for the benefit of individuals/families in need. We always work in cooperation with local healthcare professionals, providing training when possible. Recently we have sent 2 surgical teams to the Philippines.We plan to expand our surgical missions in Guatemala and possibly to other developing countries.

The Present

Although Health for Humanity was formed with the broad purpose of improving health in developing countries, in the  early years we continued to focus on the surgical missions. Through these missions we confirmed our organization and established our credibility both in Canada and in guatemala. We began partnering with local non-governmental organizations (NGO) for the surgicla missions and recently we have begun supporting several of our Guatemalan NGO partners in other health and educational initiatives. The increase in revenue this year, from the concert and our other fund raising efforts, gives us the opportunity to expand our activities. While the surgical missions will remain an important part of H4H activities, we intend to increase our support of local organizations that work in public health and education and target vulnerable populations.

Our Village projects

You can see on our recently added facebook photos the need in the rural villages, and the difference such simple items as water filters and efficient wood burning stoves can make. Nutrition and education of children, especially girls, are two important determinants in the development of healthy populations and H4H will be providing scholarships through Vamos Adalante  and supporting their nutrition programs for children. Economic development is another major determinant of health, and we will be looking into microloans, particularly in the field of food security for the people living in rural villages.

HIV, Reproductive Health and Human Rights

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, cannot be achieved if questions of population and reproductive health are not squarely addressed. There is now consensus that advancing women's rights, in general, and reproductive rights, in particular, is a necessary precondition for halving the number of people living in poverty and underpins success in achieving all the other goals. Another MDG is to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and this is very closely linked to advancing women’s reproductive rights. With this in mind H4H is working with Proyecto Payaso  to apply for a Voluntary Sector Fund (VSF) Grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to support the development of a diploma program for health educators in the field of HIV prevention and women’s reproductive health.

The Rwanda project

As discussed above MDG 6 is to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. Because we believe that grassroots initiatives can complement governmental and major international organization public health initiatives, in the coming year H4H will be supporting the Rwanda Project. In December of 2008, H4H member David Patrick and colleagues travelled to Rwanda.  The group consulted widely with local Ministry of Health, NGOs and focus groups around HIV prevention and also provided demonstration of state of the art approaches to male circumcision (MC).  MC has been shown to reduce transmission of HIV from women to men by over 50% and represents one of the first one-time interventions with the potential to reduce HIV risk for the entire population over time.  Following the visit, the Rwandan Ministry of Health announced its policy of integrating MC into its HIV prevention programming, focusing on neonatal circumcision.    The group is now consulting with colleagues in Rwanda about the best ways to assist with training health care workers to offer relevant procedures and is working with H4H toward sustainable funding for the initiative.

Increasing Awareness

It is our hope to increase awareness among Canadians about the desperate health conditions in the developing world and to address the great need for Governments and individuals to increase their efforts to correct this inequality. If our own volunteer efforts can have such a direct impact on individuals, our stories can help us reach many, many more.

To find our more about our work please look through our website