This morning’s New York Times featured a piece, “Still Fragile, Haiti Makes Sales Pitch“, detailing a recent investors’ conference in the hemisphere’s poorest country. The piece illuminated the plight of Haitians who, in spite of intense poverty, disease, infrastructure challenges, and corruption, are hoping to spur business investment in their country so as to create jobs and economic development. Partners ranging from UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton to major corporations such as Levi Strauss and Gap were present for the conference, and Haiti’s prime minister Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis remarked, “By the end of the year, we want to feel the effects of this meeting.”
Any plan to alleviate poverty in Haiti, however, must focus on more than business development; with over 26% of the Haitian population suffering from one or more neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), disease control is a critical element of creating an environment in which economic growth is sustainable and social unrest is mitigated.
The NYT article today reminded us of a powerful video created by one of our long-standing collaborators in Haiti, the University of Notre Dame. Led by Father Thomas Streit, CHC, PhD, Notre Dame’s Haiti Program has been working to control NTDs such as lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) for over a decade. In addition to treating millions of people infected with or at-risk for NTDs, they have created a number of successful advocacy partnerships and campaigns. Perhaps the most compelling advocacy material they have developed is the following video, a 2-minute piece shown to 80,000+ Fighting Irish fans at Notre Dame Stadium during football season:
\”What Would You Fight For?\” Video from Notre Dame
A screen shot from UND's video: a Haitian man with elephantiasis. To see the video in full, please click on the hyperlink above this image.
In partnership with the UND Haiti Program, the Global Network is working to support NTD control efforts for the world’s poorest people around the world. For more information, check out the Haiti Program’s work and the Global Network’s country report.
