Born from a crisis.
Built on solidarity.

Our story

The founding of AHCD

In January 2010, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti. Thousands of displaced families from across Port-au-Prince took shelter in the courtyard of the Congrégation des Petits Frères de Sainte Thérèse in Rivière Froide. A group of women doctors responded immediately: they set up emergency care on site, distributed food and clothing, and helped children restart their school activities even amid the rubble.

Over the following months, Secours Populaire Français rehabilitated the Frères de Rivière Froide school, giving the community a stable anchor. The doctors, now organized as a formal community association, deepened their work into a lasting program of school health services, regular medical consultations, and community education covering hygiene, nutrition, and preventive care.

As the association grew, new programs took shape: children's social activities including Christmas celebrations, Easter egg hunts, and holiday programs; the construction of an access road linking the Bois Djoute neighborhood to the Carrefour road; and a community water treatment center that brought clean water to families who had none. All of it built in continued partnership with Secours Populaire Français.

Today, AHCD runs five active programs serving more than one thousand people each year, guided by the conviction that every person deserves to be seen, heard, and supported, not as a problem to solve, but as a person of full dignity. The association is led today by its president, the pediatrician Martine Canal.