CMMB (Catholic Medical Mission Board)

CHAMPS

Children and Mothers Partnerships (CHAMPS) is CMMB's long-term initiative to address the leading causes of maternal and child death, disability and illness, including diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and HIV. The program works both at community and clinical levels throughout Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. It addresses common causes of poor health, including access to clean water, healthcare facilities and medicine supply, sanitation, agriculture/nutrition, social justice and economic development.

Healing Help and Volunteer Programs

Delivering volunteers and medical supplies to resource-poor areas are two legacy programs that have existed throughout the history of CMMB. The Healing Help pharmaceutical donation program delivers and distributes donated medicines and medical supplies free of charge and without discrimination. Over the last eight years, CMMB has provided over US$2 billion worth of donated medicines to its trusted local healthcare partners in 120 countries. CMMB’s volunteer program provides medical and business expertise for community development at faith-based facilities in Haiti, Kenya, Peru, South Sudan, Zambia and other locations.

HIV/AIDS

CMMB provides HIV/AIDS care, treatment and support across all age groups and genders. Since 2003, CMMB has been a part of the U.S. government-funded AIDS Relief care and treatment program (PEPFAR). The program has helped more than 700,000 people living with HIV worldwide as of 2013. CMMB partnered with the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) on the HIV/AIDS relief program, Choose To Care, supported by funding from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation and other sources, which assisted more than 140 community-based initiatives in South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana.

History

The history of CMMB (known as a committee of the Catholic Hospital Association until 1927) dates back to 1912, when a personal tragedy inspired CMMB’s founder, Dr. Paluel J. Flagg to commit to medical missionary work. On his first international volunteer trip, Dr. Flagg ministered to leprosy patients in Haiti.

For many decades, CMMB prioritized the shipping of medical supplies and equipment to missionaries and health partners around the world. In 1949, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, a prominent preacher, television personality and national director of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith – joined CMMB’s board and served for 26 years.

Dr. Tom Catena, American surgeon and Christian missionary, has volunteered with CMMB since 1999, working on multiple projects in Guyana, Honduras, Kenya, Nairobi, and southern Sudan.

In 2002, CMMB introduced Born To Live, a program designed for the prevention of mother-to-child (PMTCT) transmission of HIV, affecting nearly 60,000 women in Haiti, Kenya and South Sudan.

In 2003, CMMB launched Action for Family Health to help reduce the mortality and morbidity rates of children in five Latin American and Caribbean countries, through a partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Catholic healthcare networks and the respective Ministries of Health in each country. CMMB provided deworming medicines to children in Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

In 2004, CMMB supported international and local partners in response to the tsunami disaster, committing US$3.1 million in health aid to survivors in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

CMMB became a member of the AIDS Relief consortium in response to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (President Bush).

In 2010, CMMB provided over US$49 million and over 500 tons of pharmaceutical and medical supplies worth US$46.7 million to Haiti for earthquake relief. CMMB distributed over 20,000 hygiene kits and 500,000 meals to survivors through its local partners. CMMB also co-founded the Haiti Amputee Coalition, created after the earthquake to provide amputees with urgent medical care, high-quality prostheses, food, shelter, physical and psycho-social therapy.

In 2013, CMMB delivered medicine and medical supplies valued at more than US$10 million to survivors of typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Philippines.

Haiti

CMMB’s work in Haiti goes back to 1912. CMMB focuses on providing treatment and medicine for people living with HIV/AIDS.

CMMB is building a primary healthcare facility, the Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan Center for Health, in Côtes-de-Fer. The new hospital will offer basic and emergency care for approximately 55,000 Haitians. The project was named after Joseph M. Sullivan, the Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, and a member of the CMMB's Board of Directors, who died in 2013.

Kenya

Since 2003, CMMB has delivered comprehensive HIV care and treatment programs. In 2010, CMMB provided life-saving antiretroviral treatment to nearly 47,000 Kenyans. CMMB’s mentors helped more than 24,000 people living with HIV/AIDS adhere to their medical treatment and combat social stigma within their families and communities in Kenya, South Sudan and Haiti.

CMMB’s Women Fighting AIDS Kenya (WOFAK) is a community-based organization, providing prevention education, support groups, clinical and nutritional care to 15,000 women and 5,000 children each year. CMMB provides voluntary medical male circumcision services as part of a comprehensive HIV-prevention package in Nairobi and Kisumu County.

Peru

CMMB focuses on improving the health and nutrition of children under the age of five and pregnant women in under-served areas of Peru. CMMB trains health professionals and community healthcare workers, advises parents on child and family health and nutrition, provides nutritional supplementation to malnourished children, institutes community health-surveillance and addresses issues of economic self-sufficiency through agricultural programs.

In 2010-2013, CMMB, Bon Secours Health System, CHRISTUS Health, and Caritas del Peru partnered to implement the Unidos Contra la Mortalidad Infantil (United Against Infant Mortality) program. The program was designed to decrease morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age.

CMMB provides physical, social and psychological care for mentally disabled children, which helps form a more supportive environment for these children, whom are often not accepted at their local schools.

South Sudan

CMMB’s work in South Sudan includes HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment, refugee health services, gender-based violence prevention, child protection and primary healthcare.

In 2009, CMMB established ANISA, healthcare initiatives to support local HIV/AIDS program. ANISA, meaning “together” in the Zande language, aims to reduce the incidences of new HIV infections through HIV testing and counseling, and prevent PMTCT and sexual transmission of the disease. CMMB’s partner organization, World Vision, provides community outreach in HIV prevention for target audience of over 120,000 people annually.

Since 2012, CMMB trains and provides support to birth attendants and nurses in safe delivery and infant health, as well as provided surgical and ambulance support services.

Zambia

CMMB focuses on improving access to services for maternal and child health, including a four-year program for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), increasing uptake of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and HIV counseling and testing (HCT), implementing community-based HIV prevention programs, and preventing and treating malaria, TB and leprosy.

CMMB promotes male involvement in antenatal clinics and responsibility for the health of the family under the Men Taking Action (MTA™) model, including PMTCT, HCT services and antiretroviral (ARV) treatment at 31 participating Church Health Institutions.

Between 2009-2012, CMMB managed the USAID-funded Malaria Communities Program under the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) in the high transmission Luapula Province.

Recognition