Kena Pierre Charles, a Fonkoze Community Health Entrepreneur with her Boutik Sante

Kena Pierre Charles is also a successful Community Health Entrepreneur (CHE) that participates in Fonkoze’s Boutik Sante in Bainet, Haiti. CHEs are businesswomen empowered by Fonkoze to earn a living and serve their rural communities in a meaningful way.

“I enjoy what I do,” she smiles. “And with the profits I make from my store, I have been able to repair my house, buy some goats, and more inventory.”

In 2023, over 3.2 million households were served by the program. To date, Fonkoze has improved access to health products, education and other essential services throughout the country via Boutik Sante’s Community Health Entrepreneurs.

“I want my children to make progress in life and become great people in society,” Kena says. “For my business, I hope to one day own a bigger pharmacy and a larger variety of products.”

Access to Healthcare Strained

The increased in gang violence prevents access to essential health services especially in rural areas. Fonkoze’s Boutik Sante, social franchising initiative, addresses this gap by training Haitian women to be solutions to this issue, offering preventive and screening services to those who need them the most.

In 2023, with the steadfast efforts of our team:

• 449 women were trained as Community Health Entrepreneurs (CHEs), who then conducted trainings for 5,581 community members on good nutrition practices.

• 28,619 children were screened for malnutrition, and 492 children received necessary care through our program.

• 17,179 people accessed essential health products.

• The women participants (CHEs) sold 9,108 water treatments and the Fonkoze team distributed 12,363 cholera kits, along with vital information on self-protection.

Fonkoze’s ability to maintain and expand these health services is under severe strain in 2023.

Gang control and conflicts disrupt supply chains, making it increasingly difficult to deliver supplies in the Central Plateau and in the North and South. Economic challenges, including exchange rate fluctuations and rising transportation costs, have compounded these issues, forcing us to reduce our Boutik Sante program activities from 36 to 12 Fonkoze branches in 2023. 

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