PROMESS: Essential Medicines Program

PROMESS ("Programme de Médicaments Essentiels") is the principal agency for the provision of essential medicines and medical supplies in the Republic of Haiti. PROMESS was created in 1992 during the embargo, after the failure of the earlier system for provisioning community pharmacies, known as AGAPCO.

PROMESS was founded with funding from the World Bank, bilateral cooperation (France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, USAID, Canada) and multilateral cooperation (UNICEF, UNFPA, the European Commission), as well as partners in the Management Council chaired by the Minister of Public Health.

Since 1992, PROMESS has been managed as a PAHO/WHO project in Haiti. Its mission has been to guarantee the availability of a select group of quality drugs and consumables for public and private nonprofit medical institutions in Haiti.

PROMESS during the crisis

The earthquake of 12 January 2010 caused minimal damage to the physical structure of PROMESS, allowing the facility to remain operational. It was immediately decided to make the existing inventory available free of charge to all agencies involved in relief operations, be they public health facilities, private for-profit or nonprofit facilities, national or international nongovernmental organizations, or multi- or bilateral cooperation agencies.  Almost US$ 2.5 million in inventories were thus distributed to some 250 different organizations between 12 January and the end of February, representing some 450 deliveries and 350,000 packages.

This system remained in place until February 9, 2010, when it was decided with the Ministry of Health to rationalize the supply. Subsequently, the system returned to normal with the recovery of costs for products purchased by PROMESS, but donations received from around the world have continued to be distributed free of charge either in kit form or on demand.

Since the beginning of the cholera outbreak 21 October 2011, medicines and medical supplies for the treatment of cholera and wash products for disinfection and sanitation, have been distributed free of charge by PROMESS.

In 3 months, medicines and medical supplies valued at US$ 1.8 million were distributed (among them 1.3M ORS and 600,000 Ringer) directly to health actors (institutions, NGOs) operating in the cholera treatment centers (CTC, CTU) or indirectly by pre-positioning them in the 10 Departments of the country.

Earthquake in Haiti – One year later

PAHO/WHO Report on the Health Situation including overview of PROMESS Activities:

One year after the 12 January earthquake struck Haiti, PAHO/WHO continues to support the response through initiatives aimed at rebuilding a devastated health system and improving the health of the Haitian population.

The following document has been released by the Organization to present an overview of the situation in Haiti of particular interest in the area of Medicines and Health Technologies This has been the response from PROMESS in ensuring availability of Essential Medicines and supplies.

To download the document click  here 

To read the section  “Availability of drugs and Medical Supplies” click  here (page 6 and 7 of the document).