These activities were the culmination of months of planning and training conducted by the Haiti Program across the country. The program recruits and trains the health workers, coordinates with local agencies on appropriate timing and locales for distribution, teams compile supplies and publicize the event, and others staff hotlines to answer questions following the distribution. The MDA teams then go from town to town, distributing life-changing medication to residents. In Tabarre, they reached over 93% of the targeted population, another success, and another step towards eliminating LF in Haiti.

On February 23rd, 2013, a box truck rolled up to the town square in Tabarre. The truck was full of supply kits for a weekend of Mass Drug Administration (MDA), and Tabarre, a suburb of Port au Prince, was the next target.

Dr. Luccene Desir, Medical Director for the Haiti Program and MDA team leader hopped from the truck, and within minutes a cadre of health workers converged on him. Dr.

Desir’s energy is infec-tious, and his command for the minutiae of Mass Drug Administration is unmatched. He quickly directed part of the team to unload the truck, while other

groups finalized plans for the days ahead.

As workers unloaded the truck, curious children (and a few adults) came to check out the cause of the commotion. Dr. Desir & his colleagues enthusiastically explained the project, and reminded everyone to come back the next day for treatment.

Metropolitan MDA Continued Success

H A I T I

F A S T F A C T S

Leogane Ledger S P R I N G 2 0 1 3

C A P I T A L

P O R T A U P R I N C E

R E L I G I O N

8 0 % R O M A N C A T H O L I C

1 6 % P R O T E S T A N T

4 % O T H E R

P O P U L A T I O N

9 , 8 0 1 , 6 6 4

L I F E E X P E C T A N C Y

6 2 . 5 1

M E D I A N A G E

2 1 . 6 Y E A R S

L I T E R A C Y R A T E

5 2 . 9 %

P H Y S I C I A N D E N S I T Y

0 . 2 5 D O C T O R S P E R

1 , 0 0 0 P E O P L E

U N E M P L O Y M E N T R A T E

4 0 . 6 %

P O P U L A T I O N L I V I N G

B E L O W P O V E R T Y L I N E

8 0 %

2 0 1 0 E A R T H Q U A K E

I N F O R M A T I O N

2 2 0 , 0 0 0 D E A D

1 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0

I M M E D I A T E L Y

H O M E L E S S

3 5 0 , 0 0 0 R E M A I N

H O M E L E S S

3 0 0 , 0 0 0 I N J U R E D

$ 1 4 B I L L I O N I N

D A M A G E S

It costs $50 to provide Mass Drug

Administration for 100 people.

P A G E 2

From the Classroom to the Clinic

Bon Sel Dayiti “The Good Salt of Haiti”

Around the Web Twice a week, Professor

Karen Richman and her

Intermediate Creole Class

spend time discussing and

developing catchy & cultur-

ally appropriate Creole

advertisements for Bon Sel

Dayiti, the Program’s

medicated salt initiative.

This collaboration with the

Haiti Program is helping the

students practice their

Creole, and is making Bon

Sel Dayiti a force on social

media. With the help of

Conor O’Donoghue, a

graduate student in the

ESTEEM program, and

Jean-Pierre Vertil, a

freshman engineering

major at Notre Dame, the

Haiti Program launched a

Facebook page for Bon

Sel in English & in Creole.

These pages will work in

tandem with the Notre

Dame Haiti Program

Facebook page and the

new website,

www.bonseldayiti.com

which launched this month.

This website will give Bon

Sel Dayiti yet another

avenue to reach potential

buyers and to educate the

population about lymphatic

filariasis, Iodine Deficiency

Disorder and the benefits

of Bon Sel. Next time

you’re on Facebook, use it

as a force for good: Like our

page and spread the word

about Bon Sel Dayiti.

with research for the

Program. After raising the

funds to support her work

for a year, Kate arrived in

mid-June, and went to

work on various research

projects supporting the

Haiti Program mission.

In December, Kate and

the research team

In June of 2012, Kate

Sullivan, a recent graduate

of Stonehill College in

Boston arrived in Leogane.

Intrigued by the work of

the Haiti Program, Kate

reached out to Fr. Streit

and volunteered to come

to Haiti to use her degree

in Biochemistry to assist

launched a year long study

on the immunology of

lymphatic filariasis. Kate is

studying how patients with

LF and without LF respond

to the medication in Bon

Sel Dayiti salt. As we learn

more about how LF works,

we will be better able to

eliminate it from Haiti.

Tropical Diseases like LF.

Emily jumped at the

chance, and over the past

four years, she built ND

Fighting NTDs (NDFNTDs)

into a model for clubs

across the country.

A Theology and Psychology

major, Emily’s work with

NDFNTDs influenced her

studies, as she began to

explore the mental and

spiritual toll that NTDs can

take on patients and their

families, a topic she chose

for her senior project.

Emily was able to apply for

funding from the University

and travel to Leogane this

January to spend a week

interviewing LF patients.

This work will help the

Program improve holistic

patient care at the LF clinic.

As a freshman at Notre

Dame in the fall of 2009,

Emily Conron was a

student in the class

Common Human Diseases,

taught by Fr. Streit. At the

end of the semester, Fr.

Tom asked Emily and some

of her classmates to form a

student club devoted to

raising awareness on

campus about Neglected

L E O G A N E L E D G E R

Emily and a study

participant.

Kate with Antoinette, a

patient and a community

advocate

with Fr. Tom and several patients, to

learn more about the effects of the

disease and the benefits of the salt

program. The program was thrilled

to introduce Palani and Mark to

Haiti, and hope that they continue

to spread the word about this great

partnership.

Thank You Doctor Marty Dineen P A G E 3

Dr. Marty Dineen, Notre

Dame class of 1974, a

founding member of Emil’s

Army, and an earthquake

responder, completed his

11th trip in three years to

Leogane this January. Over

the years, Dr. Dineen has

brought his son, Mike, and his

wife, Marianne, with him to

Leogane where he becomes

“Dr. Big Tummy” to the

children of Leogane and

serves as a welcome relief to

the men he helps.

Dr. Dineen is an accomplished

urological surgeon with a

practice in Daytona Beach,

Florida. Over the past decade,

he has generously donated his

time and skills to perform

over 100 hydrocele surgeries

as a part of the Program’s

healing work. These surgeries

have transformed hundreds of

lives, and enabled the patients

to support their families. An

assistant professor at the

University of Florida Medical

School, Dr. Dineen has also

used his teaching skills to

teach doctors in Haiti how to

perform these surgeries, so

that the work can continue in

his absence. Thank you and

God Bless, Dr. Dineen for all of

the work that you have done

for the Program, and more

importantly, for the Haitian

people.

For the past several months,

the Haiti Program has been

working with the Cargill

Corporation to improve our

co-fortified salt initiative. With

the help of experts from Cargill,

we have addressed technical

issues and developed a plan to

improve production and

marketing. These improve-

ments will greatly enhance the

distribution of Bon Sel.

To celebrate this partnership,

the Program welcomed Palani

Mohan and Mark Klein from

Cargill to Leogane in January.

Also on hand were Jim Reimer,

a retired executive from Cargill

and the current Salt Program

Director and Dean Greg Crawford

from the College of Science at

Notre Dame, as well as Program

staff.

Over the course of several days,

the group visited the Program’s

salt factory in Port au Prince to

check out how new Cargill

techniques are already improving

production. The group also

visited a market near Leogane to

talk to distributors & consumers

about Bon Sel Dayiti and the

Program’s salt flats in Petit

Desdunes. With assistance from

Cargill, the program hopes to

transform these flats into a solar

salt field in just a few years. The

group had the chance to meet

The Salt of the Earth

Though the night

may be dark, be

not afraid. Walk

boldly toward

Easter morning.

Christ is risen.

Christ is risen.

Alleluia!

Dr. Marty and his wife

Marianne in surgery

The Notre Dame and Cargill crew in front of the RF

This February, the research division

of the Haiti program completed

midpoint activities for a multi-year

study on the epidemiology on some

neglected tropical diseases and the

ecology of tropical pathogens. As

Mathieu Poirier, the Assistant

Director of Research explained,

“The study aims to tie together

multiple aspects of disease

transmission in the community of

Ca Ira, near our center of opera-

tions in Leogane.” The team is

doing this through continual

mosquito collections, tracking

exposure to disease (especially

among young children), and taking

into account protective factors such

as bednet and Bon Sel Dayiti salt

usage. Last month, the team

conducted door to door surveys and

collected blood samples from

children in the community. Working

with the CDC, these samples will be

analyzed for exposure to a variety of

tropical diseases, including LF, once

the study period has come to an

end. This analysis will enable the

Program to better understand the

factors underlying the distribution of

disease in Haiti as we work toward

eradication.

Phone: 574-631-3273

Fax: 574-631-7984

E-mail: haitihelp@nd.edu

Founded in 1993, the University of Notre Dame

Haiti Program seeks to eliminate lymphatic filariasis

(LF) in Haiti by 2020. LF, a mosquito-borne disease,

is the second leading cause of long-term disfigure-

ment and disability worldwide. It can be eliminated

through Mass Drug Administration and the

distribution of co-fortified salt. The Haiti Program is

partnering with the Haitian Ministry of Health,

corporations, and non-governmental organizations

to forever eliminate the disease in Haiti, thus

alleviating suffering, helping to grow the Haitian

economy, and creating an exportable model for LF

elimination throughout the developing world.

Tropical Disease Research Advances

Visit us on the Web!

www.haiti.nd.edu

Notre Dame Haiti Program

University of Notre Dame

305 Brownson Hall

Please consider the environment

and sign up for the electronic version of our newsletter. Email haitihelp@nd.edu with your name and email address.

A young study participant

observes the health worker

(above) and the research

team in Ca Ira (left)