CCNM Chapter of Naturopaths Without Borders 2.74

Started in the Fall of 2011, the CCNM chapter of NWB has been sending students to volunteer for NWB on their global health trip to Haiti. NWB annually welcomes students from CCNM during the two weeks before our winter semester midterm exams in February to volunteer at their mobile clinic near Cap Haitien, Haiti.

NWB and its volunteers provide naturopathic medical care to communities in Northern Haiti who otherwise don’t have access to health care. NWB as an organization also seeks out and trains local Haitians as community health workers who provide care and education about a healthy lifestyle, sanitation and proper hygiene, and diet changes within their available food sources to provide continuous care when volunteers and NDs are not able to be present in Haiti.

In Haiti NWB has also developed good relationships with MamaBaby, Meds and Foods for Kids, and Carbon Roots. The former provides pregnant or expecting Haitian women with midwifery care before, during and after pregnancy. Meds and Foods for Kids has a program called Medika Mamba that provides peanut based products for malnourished kids in the fight against Kwashiorkor, marasmus and other issues associated with malnourishment. The latter is an organization that makes coal, a common form of energy use for Haitians, by burning cane sugar waste instead of chopping down trees to produce coal.

NWB has just launched a new chapter in the hills of Northern Thailand near Chiang Mai in conjunction with Where There Is No Doctor led by Dr. David Ma Naw.

Volunteering with NWB is a very fulfilling, humbling, and enriching experience that broadens your horizons and knowledge of global health all while given the opportunity to practice your skills as a doctor and reflect on yourself as a person.