Leading Collaboration Among Health Facilities

A map of of Haiti's southern peninsula with all of the hospitals, health clinics, and dispensaries marked.

HEI/SBH has embarked on long-term work to strengthen southern Haiti’s health systems. Let’s break down what health system strengthening means, and why it’s so important.

What is a health system?

A health system is all of the people and institutions that deliver health care in a geographic area. It includes the staff and infrastructure of hospitals, health centers, and laboratories, as well as people in the communities, like traditional healers and midwives.

SBH is the hub of the local health system in the Fond des Blancs area. As one of the only fully functioning hospitals on Haiti’s southern peninsula, it is also central to the regional health system, and a key player in Haiti’s national health system.

A Haitian nurse lays a baby on a red cloth to prepare the child for weighing. A woman with short hair and a printed button-down shirt stands to the left assisting the nurse.

Miss Marie prepares to weigh a young patient.

Why does southern Haiti’s health system need to be strengthened?

Lack of public resources and coordination have made maintaining a high standard of care across the region nearly impossible. With our local leadership and reputation for quality and reliability, we have been entrusted with building a more effective and resilient system.

Over the past forty years, HEI/SBH has earned the trust of funders and of health system actors at all levels who have looked to us for crisis response. This work allows us to share our knowledge with them in a systematic way, increasing overall capacity.

What is HEI/SBH doing to strengthen the regional health system?

Working with 37 health facilities across southern Haiti, we aim to improve patients’ access to care by:

  • Training hundreds of health system actors in technical and management skills

  • Meeting with health facility leaders to understand their needs, build mutual trust, and strengthen collaboration

  • Coordinating with the Ministry of Health on health delivery standards and resource distribution

  • Convening regularly with partners for data-driven decisions to improve facility management and delivery of services.

What results do you expect?

Over time, we will see healthier communities due to better patient care and greater utilization of health services.

By using our proven model of healthcare delivery, we will make quality, equitable care available to more patients in more communities in our region. At the center of everything is the patient, and patients will see a difference.

Program Areas