21 November, 2013
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – The government of the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Batey Relief Alliance (BRA Dominicana) launched in September a Food Aid Program at a cost of $566,021.00, through which, 150 metric tons of Breedlove dehydrated food will be distributed to over 20,700 people in eleven provinces of the Dominican Republic.
For six consecutive years, USAID and BRA implemented this food distribution program that responds to the efforts of both institutions in the country to reduce malnutrition and the scarcity of food among Dominican Republic’s most vulnerable and impoverished segments of the population. These highly nutritious food supplements will benefit more than 20,700 people, primarily pregnant women, children and adults severely affected by extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and hunger in economically-strapped rural sugarcane plantations “batey” communities, urban slums and border villages.
This program will be carried out in partnership with the Dominican Ministry of Public Health, through its Provincial Health Directorates. Additionally, some 15 local non-governmental organizations, such as the Center for Promotion and Human Solidarity (CEPROSH) and Dominican Churches for Social Services (SSID) and dozens of community health promoters will participate in the distribution of these foods throughout the country.
BRA’s Chief Executive Officer, Ulrick Gaillard, pointed out that the Food Aid Program will complement two other important BRA projects: Maternal Child Health that provides daily doses of multivitamin supplements and deworming medications to 27,800 children and 8,500 pregnant and nursing women; and the HIV/AIDS prevention that provides free testing, counseling, comprehensive health care and antiretroviral therapy to 568 undernourished people who are living with the disease and are taking potent drugs to fight opportunistic infections .
It is estimated that 13 percent of children under five in rural areas and 8 percent in urban areas in the Dominican Republic are chronically malnourished, according Encuesta Demográfica y de Salud del 2007 (ENDESA 2007).
To learn more about BRA’s work, like on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Batey.Relief.Alliance; follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bateyrelief; and visit www.bateyrelief.org.
