Albendazole Distributions in Port-au-Prince

We have begun distributing a pill – Albendazole – to Haitians in the 30 neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, Haiti where we have chlorinators. We have given out 90,000 pills so far and have 400,000 doses yet to distribute.

Mostly, we are using the members of our local water boards – now more than 1000 members – to distribute the pills. The initial feedback is excellent:

• “The children all eat more.”
• “Our kids gain weight.”
• “Our kids don’t beg for water at night.”
• “Costly treatments didn’t work; the free pills from you gave an effective solution.”

Worms are a plague in Haiti and many other developing countries. Virtually all children are infected and worms take up to 20% of each child’s nutrition. Intestinal worms amplify the impact of chronic diarrhea from bad water, causing anemia, vitamin deficiencies, weak immune system, and poor cognitive development.

One mother told us:

I have three children, the first one is 12, the second is 9, and the youngest is 4. My two youngest had diarrhea very often. I visited a lot of hospitals but was unable to find a cure. Finally I visited a pediatrician; he examined all three, and revealed that the kids have worms.

The treatments prescribed did not give good results whereas the Albendazole pills distributed by International Action… have been taken by all my children and now they do not have diarrhea anymore. Many of my neighbors make the same observation.

I have no words to express my gratitude towards International Action/Dlo Pwop. Their intervention changed the lives of my children.

—Mme Madeleine Joseph, Impasse Dallas, Delmas 30, Haiti

In addition to intestinal helminths, many Haitians are infected by a tiny worm in the blood which can lead to elephantiasis, immense swelling of the legs. We are approaching several drug manufacturers of DEC, a medicine which kills the worms causing that disease.

The International Action staff works closely with the Center for Disease Control and the Pan American Health Organization in these medical programs. We are forming a Medical Advisory Board of public health and nursing officials to oversee this work.

Below is a list of the neighborhoods where we are distributing the Albendazole pills and the quantity given out in each place.

Table of the Albendazole pills distribution process