Going the Last Mile
Hunger in Haiti continues to rise.
Today, 81% of Haitian children under 5 live in food poverty and 300,000 are severely or chronically malnourished.
To meet this urgent need, Meds & Food for Kids is doing even more to reach the most isolated, remote communities. Because we are located in Haiti with a team of nearly 100 Haitian staff, we are uniquely able to find and create solutions to distribute therapeutic foods to save the lives of malnourished children.
La Gonâve is one of three islands in Haiti, located off the coast of Port-au-Prince where gang violence is most active. The nearest ports and roads are all blocked, making access to the island almost impossible.
In the past few months MFK was able to deliver RUTF treatments to La Gonâve for malnourished children through great teamwork and ingenuity.
Many of our truckers have built relationships and connections throughout Haiti to help facilitate these vital distributions of lifesaving RUTF. To reach La Gonâve, they first drive to the ports in Gonaïves – once a 2 hour drive, now 5 hours on dirt roads and through mountains.
The treatments are then sent to La Gonâve on a boat for another 2 hours. Sometimes the delivery to the island can be completed in one trip, but if only a smaller boat is available then even 2 or 3 trips are needed.
Finally on the island, trucks, cars, and sometimes even donkeys take the RUTF to their final clinic destination – the Last Mile.
Meds & Food for Kids’ work not only continues, but is expanding to meet today’s challenges. Our team in Haiti is committed to going the Last Mile so malnourished children can have a chance for a future.
“Sometimes it can be difficult to reach from Point A to Point B, but with the dedication of our staff and the persistence of the truckers we are able to reach more children at the Last Mile” – Remenson Tenor, Meds & Food for Kids COO.