Health Care Access in Haiti: Americares Mobile Medical Teams Bring Hope

On a hot, humid morning in southern Haiti, Sireta heard an unusual sound: a motorcycle making its way up the steep, rocky road to her home. For Sireta and her neighbors, it was the sound of health care arriving. The motorcycle carried a doctor, a nurse, essential medications and — most importantly — the blood pressure medicine Sireta needs to stay healthy.

Americares Support for Pestel Health Center

The mobile medical team came from Pestel Health Center, which Americares has supported since 2018. With Americares investment, the health center has:

• Installed a solar power system, which provides 24/7 energy.
• Trained staff in logistics, community health education, medicine inventory management and more.
• Supplied essential medical equipment — including the motorcycle that carries the mobile health unit.

Twice a week, an Americares doctor and Pestel Health Center staff load the motorcycle with medicine and supplies to deliver health services directly to remote communities. When needed, the motorcycle also transports patients back to the health center for further treatment.

“I am very happy,” says Sireta. “It’s like God has come down from heaven.”

Overcoming Barriers to Health Care in Rural Haiti

For years, residents like Sireta and her neighbors had to save money and travel more than 200 miles to Port-au-Prince to access medical care. Today, gang violence makes travel to the capital extremely dangerous and expensive. Many can’t even afford the cost to travel to Pestel, only a few miles away.

“When people here get ill, we have to pay a motorcycle to go to Pestel, and when we get to Pestel, we have to pay more money to get back here,” explains Buna, a local farmer who needs medical care and medicine to manage his high blood pressure and diabetes. “Thank you so much to Americares for coming to this area that’s so difficult to access — where you have to cross mountains to get here, it’s not easy.”

Mobile Medical Teams Deliver Lifesaving Care

In just three months, the Americares-supported mobile health staff from Pestel reached 425 patients and prescribed over 45 different medications. The goal is to provide care to 600 people within six months.

Americares medical doctor who oversees the project understands the local challenges:

• Political instability.
• Migration from the Dominican Republic.
• Natural disasters, including hurricanes and earthquakes.
• Rising gang violence.

“The security situation has forced many organizations to flee the country, which has reduced the funds available in Haiti,” the doctor explains. Yet in Pestel, a community of more than 40,000 people, Americares health programs remain active, delivering medicine, equipment, community health education, and training for health center staff.

Building Long-Term Health Resilience in Haiti

In addition to Pestel Health Center, Americares partners with the Dalton Foundation, Hispaniola Health Partners and Hope for Haiti in southern Haiti. These partnerships include:

• Supporting primary care clinics and mobile health units, including those with a focus on maternal and child health.
• Improving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure, including sanitary latrines, water storage and community water kiosks.
• Training local residents to maintain and manage WASH facilities
• Supplying essential medicine and medical supplies and providing medical equipment to local health centers.

Hope and Healing for Haiti’s Remote Communities

Haiti continues to face overlapping crises, but Americares and its partners are committed to helping families in rural and underserved regions access primary health care, medicine and other lifesaving support. For patients like Sireta and Buna, the arrival of a motorcycle carrying doctors and medicine is more than just health care — it’s hope delivered.