Global Health
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
Whitetulip has completed four medical aid trips to Haiti, specifically working in Port-au-Prince. The goal has been to address the social and biological determinants of health in underserved areas of Haiti. Whitetulip does this through medical clinics, but also by providing nutrition and hygiene education, especially in hand-washing and latrine practices. Whitetulip holds mobile clinics at regular intervals in about 12 orphanages in the districts of Croix-des-Bouquets, Delmas, Tabarre, and Kenscoff, particularly underserved areas of Port-au-Prince.
Malindi, Kenya
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Galana River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. The coverage of severe acute malnutrition and moderate acute malnutrition is estimated at 50 percent in Kenya, with variations across counties. Whitetulip coordinated a medical aid trip to Malindi, Kenya, in February 2020, and visited multiple orphanages and villages in the underserved areas for malnutrition screening, anti-parasite therapies, acute medical care, hygiene education, and food/hygiene product supplementation. More than 1,500 children and adults were seen; all of them were supplied with albendazole and multivitamins, almost 900 patients were treated or operated for other reasons, 72 patients were referred to Afya International Hospital for further medical care free of charge and 300 chronic malnutrition cases were detected. These malnutrition patients were referred to the local organizations for long-term care.
Aside from the malnutrition trip, two surgical aid trips have been organized so far to the region, with the goal of screening adults and underserved children who live in the nearby villages of Malindi, Kenya, for possible surgical needs. The medical care before and after the surgeries and the operations were at no cost for the patients. Whitetulip will continue to provide acute medical attention, nutritional supplementation, anti-parasite medication administration, and nutrition and hygiene education to parents and children in Kenya and we are planning to screen around 20,000 people over the next two years.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Abuja, Nigeria
Dar es Salaam is the largest city and former capital of Tanzania. Tanzania has been experiencing an epidemiologic transition with a significant increase in non-communicable diseases (diabetes, cancer, heart diseases), particularly in urban areas. Despite the efforts of the Government and the support from development partners, the public health care system struggles to meet the growing demand in health services, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria located in the center of the country. Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria needs more high-quality health workers to meet the health needs of its 173 million people. As a result, there are wide disparities in health status and access to health services across the country. Nigeria’s health indicators are very poor and are only slowly improving. The country has some of the world’s highest infant and maternal mortality rates—women have a 1 in 29-lifetime risk of dying in childbirth and only 38% of births are attended by skilled health workers.
Whitetulip started collaborations with International Eye Hospital, Time To Help, and many other local organizations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nizamiye Hospital and Nile University in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2018 for protocol sharing, patient consultations, public education, medical student mentorship, and medical aid trips.
