Our Impact

After nearly 70 years, the values of NPH’s founder are still in practice—the commitment to protect and serve vulnerable children—ensuring that the best interests of each and every child is at the center of everything we do. NPH seeks to stomp out poverty, one child at a time.

Fr. William Wasson’s calling to feed, clothe, and care for the least of our little brothers and sisters continues to be our calling. NPH has long responded to the great need for services beyond the walls of our homes.

Back in 1986, after opening a home in Haiti, Fr. Wasson witnessed how a lack of quality, accessible health care in the community led to countless avoidable deaths. So NPH founded St. Damien Pediatric Hospital in the Tabarre area of Port-au-Prince to treat children and pregnant mothers. NPH also ventured outside our home in Honduras during the AIDS crisis. Unwilling to be a silent observer of this devastating healthcare crisis, Fr. Wasson entered Tegucigalpa, the capital city, and opened a care center to house children with AIDS. Today that center is Casa de Los Angeles (House of the Angels), which has been rehabilitated to house youth with severe disabilities.

By extending our reach into communities, we are able to better address the root causes of poverty and family fracturing. We believe all children deserve a family. So, we are family to children when they have no one; and we are extended family to their families, providing the most vulnerable with Education, Security, Health Care, Therapy and Assistance for those with Disabilities, and Workforce Development and Life Skills training. When you support NPH USA, you strengthen families, the backbone of society, transforming the lives of children and breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

Lives Transformed

Shortly after Roque arrived to NPH Honduras at age seven, he appeared in an NPH USA video. A decade later, the original filmmaker checked back with him. Your support helps children like Roque transform from a young, vulnerable boy to the fine, very grateful, young man here.

Watch Roque’s remarkable journey as an NPH pequeño!

NPH Cares for Children and Strengthens Families, the Backbone of Society

Physical and food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean are the result of multiple factors, including political instability, weak economies, organized crime, and lack of opportunities for the young and marginalized.

Did you know more than 131 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean cannot afford a healthy diet?⁽¹⁾

NPH fosters healthy families through nutrition, healthcare, counseling, and financial support.

Whether the children we care for live in our homes or with their families, we foster healthy family dynamics through necessary provisions, such as nutrition and wellness care, counseling, parental school, and psychosocial and financial support. We offer mental health support to children and youth and help create an environment where children thrive. Our OneFamily program provides individualized support to children and their families to help them grow together and fulfill their unique potential.

2022 Impact

fully supported children, youth, adolescents and adults

people with disabilities or learning difficulties supported by NPH

community students with scholarships at non-NPH schools

community children, youths and adolescents receiving other ongoing support services

NPH Provides Vital Access to Quality Education and Development

Access to education in Latin America and the Caribbean has always been limited, with an estimated 10 million children excluded from the education system. Closures and restrictions due to the pandemic have set children in these countries back years in terms of their education.

Did you know the number of children in Latin America who cannot read and understand a simple text grew by roughly 7.6 million during the Covid pandemic?⁽²⁾

NPH helps children and youth achieve their potential by providing pre-K through university education.

NPH educational programs in communities help fill service gaps, giving vulnerable youth access to schooling, essential tutoring, and counseling support. Youth who lack access to education have limited opportunities and often join gangs or end up in jobs with poverty-level wages. In 2022, NPH helped provide thousands of children with an education. More than 1,000 graduated from preschool through university, taking the next step to become successful, productive members of their community.

2022 Impact

students from the community were able to attend school due to NPH scholarships

children and youth, supported by NPH, graduated in 2022 (K-12)

students graduated from university with degrees in everything from Agriculture and English translation to Engineering and Medicine

NPH Health and Wellbeing Services

Vulnerable people living in the Latin America and Caribbean region either do not have access to health care due to a shortage of healthcare providers, or they are denied access because of poverty.

In Haiti, decades of civil unrest, natural disasters, and extreme poverty have made health care almost non-existent in the country. The result: needless deaths from treatable conditions.

Did you know that 42% of Haiti’s population must travel more than 6 miles to reach a health facility, preventing many from obtaining the medical care they need?⁽³⁾ Many parents walk the entire way there, carrying a sick or injured child in their arms.

NPH gives children and families access to affordable high-quality health care.

Each of the NPH homes has medical clinics, providing the children with onsite access to health care services. NPH also offers medical services to people in the community. For those who would otherwise not have access, or not be able to afford access, to health care, these clinics are literally lifesaving.

We also work in partnership with One World Surgery which resides on our NPH campus in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Brigades of medical staff conduct state-of-the-art procedures to treat pequeños and the nearby community. Without them, this vital care would not be available.

As with all of our medical clinics, people pay what they can afford—meaning services are usually free thanks to the vital support from generous, caring donors.

2022 Impact (Across NPH Communities, exclusive of St. Damien Pediatric Hospital)

vaccinations were administered to keep children and adults safe from a variety of diseases

annual health checkups (including well-child checkups) were provided to children who would otherwise not have been able to afford these necessary visits

physician or nurse consults were conducted, thereby improving health and lessening stress of the most at-risk people in the Latin America and the Caribbean

dental treatments

St. Damien Pediatric Hospital

NPH's St. Damien Pediatric Hospital gives health and hope to the people and children who have nowhere else to turn. St. Damien Pediatric Hospital is the only hospital wholly dedicated to pediatric and prenatal care in Haiti, a country of 11.5 million people. St. Damien provides the ONLY cancer care in the country; is one of the few options for high-risk OB and NICU patients; and continues to be a leader in providing HIV education and care.

2022 Impact on the People and Children of Haiti

services provided to women and children

pediatric consults

maternity visits

babies delivered

vaccinations

emergency room visits

surgeries

HIV program consults

Support for Those with Disabilities

Children and adults with disabilities are greatly disadvantaged in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. They experience exceptional challenges—from limited access to care, to social isolation. This leads to negative health outcomes and deprives them of their sense of dignity.

Did you know there are more than 19 million children with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean?⁽⁴⁾

NPH is helping the most marginalized, physically and emotionally, by giving these children and adults the specialized care and compassion they need to develop.

Residential care facilities and outpatient therapy centers provide access to education, specialized treatment, and love. NPH’s programs help create opportunities for social reintegration, access to the labor market, and a life of dignity.

2022 Impact

youth and adults with disabilities or special needs were supported by NPH with education, therapy, health care, and nutrition

pequeños with disabilities or special needs are fully supported and living inside NPH homes

specialized therapeutic treatments (occupation, physical, speech, and art) were provided to children and adults with disabilities and special needs

Youth & Economic Empowerment

Healthy habits and attitudes, as well as practical skills, help young people to become independent, productive members of the community. Equipping children and adolescents with independent living skills helps break the cycle of poverty.

Did you know Latin America’s poverty rate is 32.1%, and its extreme poverty rate is 13.1%?⁽⁵⁾

NPH empowers children and youth with training, education, life skills, and character development to acquire employment and be productive, caring role models in their communities.

Vocational training alone is not enough to ensure success. The acquisition of life skills and healthy self-esteem is necessary to fully leverage employment and job opportunities. NPH strives to help children develop into well-rounded adults who are equipped with both the hard skills of training and education, and the soft skills of character development, which include family values, spirituality, responsibility, positive self-image, emotional healing, and emotional development.

2022 Impact

young women and men graduated from technical schools or vocational workshops

local people were employed by NPH, including 539 at St. Damien Pediatric Hospital in Haiti

children and youth were equipped with life-skills and character development through participation in workshops and youth groups

(320 female and 99 male) youth participated in gender empowerment and gender equity groups to help them build self-esteem, make healthy decisions, combat violence against women, and help them be their best selves

References

(1) “UN Report: 131 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean cannot access a healthy diet.” January 19, 2023. https://www.paho.org/en/news/19-1-2023-report-131-million-people-latin-america-and-caribbean-cannot-access-healthy-diet (2) “Urgent Action is Needed to Address the Enormous Education Crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean.” March 17, 2021. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/03/17/hacer-frente-a-la-crisis-educativa-en-america-latina-y-el-caribe (3) “Haiti Approves Health Plan to Expand Access.” February 10, 2023. https://msh.org/story/haiti-approves-health-plan-to-expand-access/#:~:text=Much%20of%20Haiti's%20population%20lacks,the%20medical%20care%20they%20need. (4) “There are nearly 19.1 million children with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean, UNICEF’s most comprehensive statistical analysis finds.” November 10, 2021. https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/press-releases/there-are-nearly-19-million-children-disabilities-latin-america-and-caribbean (5) “Poverty Rates in Latin America Remain Above Pre-Pandemic Levels in 2022, ECLAC Warns.” November 24, 2022. https://www.cepal.org/en/pressreleases/poverty-rates-latin-america-remain-above-pre-pandemic-levels-2022-eclac-warns

2022 Updates

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