GHEISKO co-founder soldiers on to bring ‘light, joy’ through healthcare in Haiti

BY LARISA KARR

NEW YORK — When Jack DeHovitz turned on the TV on Jan. 13, 2010,  he was shocked to see the footage of the earthquake that had devastated Port-au-Prince, a city where he had visited frequently.

He was also shocked to see his former colleague, Marie-Marcelle Deschamps, front-and-center with the interviewer, speaking about how she planned to help people impacted by the disaster.

“She takes on whatever challenges emerge in Haiti,” says DeHovitz, a professor of medicine at SUNY Downstate Health Science University. “I’ll never forget when I saw her on NBC News, providing real leadership in terms of responding to that earthquake.”

For everyone who knows and works with Deschamps, a Port-au-Prince-based doctor specializing in infectious disease, they said she is a pioneering figure in working to improve life in Haiti, including issues not just limited to the medical space. Through her pioneering work as the head of the Haitian Global Health Alliance (GHESKIO), she started her career looking at the HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping the country in the early 1980s.

To this day, she continues to remain an influential figure addressing present-day problems of cholera, education access for children, support for survivors of domestic violence, and entrepreneurship programs for women.

Last month, Deschamps was honored for her efforts in New York City at a benefit for GHESKIO. 

She said that it is the smiles of women and children that she helps at the clinic that keeps her going day after day, despite the severe, unsafe conditions in the country. She also finds joy spending time with her grandchildren.

“When I have time, I enjoy being with my grandkids. I play with them,” she says. “People will say, ‘She has a hobby?’ Yes, that’s my hobby.” 

Decades of pioneering research 

Deschamps, 69, started studying at the State University of Haiti Hospital (PINEARQ) in 1979, just as HIV/AIDS was beginning to receive global attention. Noticing the widespread impact of the disease on the Haitian population, she decided to research what exactly was happening when very few people had an explanation.

She headed to the U.S. to complete fellowships at some of the nation’s most prestigious health research centers, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she focused on epidemiology statistics.  

In 1983, Deschamps co-founded GHESKIO alongside Jean-William Pape, also a world-renowned infectious disease specialist. Once Deschamps joined GHESKIO, Pape said, she immediately expanded their global health program. It focused not just on HIV/AIDS, but also on gender-based violence, micro-financing credit for women entrepreneurs and establishing primary and vocational schools on their campus.

“She is highly motivated to help the population we serve,” Pape said. “She always wants to do her best to achieve expected results.”

Still, Deschamps’ work addressing HIV/AIDS in Haiti is what brought her to the forefront of global medical research.

At the time, Haitians were erroneously stigmatized as “AIDS carriers”, an offensive designation that greatly upset Deschamps both as a Haitian and physician. She saw how this stigmatization obstructed the care provided to patients and she began conducting research to debunk the unfair claim and to identify the clinical manifestations of HIV/AIDS in Haiti. 

A large part of her and DeHovitz’s research also focused on how the disease impacted women and children.

“I was attracted to understanding why Haitians were classified as a cause of a disease and I wanted to understand and define the mode of transmission,” Deschamps said. “I understood then that we had to do something to stop the transmission from mothers to infants, because this is something that you do not know how to explain to a child.”

Alongside DeHovitz, Deschamps discovered there were parasites associated with AIDS in Haiti that were not found in other countries and skin manifestations that were unique to the country. 

Work continues, this time to eliminate cholera 

With HIV/AIDS no longer as widespread, Deschamps has taken up the mantle of addressing other diseases, including a resurgence of cholera in Haiti due to contaminated water.  She and Pape continue aiming to eliminate cholera, alongside UNICEF, to provide mobile health clinics throughout the country for patients to receive oral rehydration salts and water purification tablets. The two are also collaborating with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to distribute cholera vaccines.  

Other priorities for GHESKIO include tuberculosis, cervical cancer and cardiovascular disease, which is currently the most deadly disease in Haiti.

“Despite what we’re facing in Haiti, it’s remarkable that she has never-ending optimism and can keep such an upbeat attitude,” says Scott Morgan, Executive Director of the Haitian Global Health Alliance in support of GHESKIO. 

“She’ll take on intractable problems that just seem like they can’t be solved and she never backs down,” Morgan said.

Colleagues say Deschamps also stands out as a physician because she doesn’t just look at a person’s medical condition, but also considers a host of external factors impacting their quality of life.

“She really understands that in order to address the health care needs of our patients, sometimes it’s a lot more than just treating their illness,” says DeHovitz. “This includes that they have a home, gainful employment and education for their children, as opposed to the broader social determinants that often predict how well patients will do.”

Despite traveling the world, Deschamps says that at the end of the day, she will always return to Haiti.

“Haiti is not joyful and it can be difficult to accept,” she says. “Sometimes, the little things can bring a smile, and these smiles might make your day.”

With everything happening in Haiti, from cholera to widespread social unrest, running away is not an option for Deschamps. 

“If there is darkness, we have to look for light and if there is sorrow, we have to bring joy,” she says. “ I’m going to stay here and fight. Maybe I should have been a soldier.”