ChildFund has awarded Physicians for Peace a $500,000 grant to support the organization’s work in Haiti, providing custom-fit prosthetics, medical equipment, a summer camp for children with disabilities or who have parents with disabilities and many additional efforts.
“ChildFund’s focus is on keeping children on the pathway of development. Natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti create terrible situations that put already vulnerable children in grave danger,” Anne Lynam Goddard, president and chief executive officer of ChildFund International, stated in a press release. “Working with Physicians for Peace means that children and others with disabilities will receive the support they need and reinforces ChildFund’s commitment to creating positive outcomes and lasting change for vulnerable children.”
In addition to providing direct physical and psychosocial care to Haiti’s children with disabilities, the $500,000 grant will allow ChildFund International and Physicians for Peace to:
- Support the safety, security and health of adults with disabilities, including parents and caretakers who would otherwise lose jobs and mobility due to their injuries;
- Increase the capacity of prosthetic providers to provide top-quality prosthetic fitting and maintenance services, with a special focus on child and adolescent amputees, through intensive training and mentoring;
- Participate in the launch of a national prosthetics and orthotics training and certification program for Haitian technicians. The program will ensure that children with disabilities and their families receive appropriate treatment in the future;
- Coordinate community outreach and promotion for rehabilitation and child-centered services within communities most affected by the earthquake; and
- Provide medical equipment to healthcare providers and assistive devices to patients, including children specifically.
