Nahum Jean-Louis
September 4, 2023Kobel Dubique
October 8, 2023Nadege Belizaire
Nadege Belizaire, MD
Nadege Belizaire, MD is a Haitian woman and global health leader passionate about women and girls’ empowerment. Since the 2010 Haiti earthquake in Haiti, Dr Nadege Belizaire has worked tirelessly promoting reproductive, maternal and child health in Cite Soleil. She was instrumental in establishing the women’s camp committee in Park Jean Marie Vincent to advocate for and organize women's health, food distribution, and cash flow for the families. This first experience has motivated and inspired her to advocate for breast cancer care in Haiti. She completed a Master’s of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery at Harvard Medical School where she conducted a qualitative study exploring the experience of women seeking care for breast cancer in Haiti. The significance of this study was to share the findings with the Haitian Ministry of Health in order to build a health education campaign and earlier breast cancer screening program for the Haitian women. Dr Belizaire had been working as a deputy director at a public health center in Port-au-Prince. As an activist, Dr Belizaire works with many women’s grassroots organizations to educate and create socio-economic activities that create jobs and generate income for women. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Nadege has raised funds to provide access to hand washing points, clean water, and soap in Cite Soleil and other urban marginalized areas. In 2020, she performed an explanatory mixed method study to evaluate a maternal and child health program supported by an internationally recognized global health funding source. This grant was recently and successfully renewed to support the maternal and child health (MCH) program including the santé fanm (women’s health) program. In September 2021, Dr Belizaire collaborated with the research team at an international and social justice organization to evaluate the Gender Based Violence (GBV) program supported by a Canadian-based funder. Dr Belizaire was excited to evaluate this GBV program because it provides equitable, quality, intersectorial, and accessible GBV services to Haitian women and girls using an evidence-based and participatory process. Dr. Belizaire analyzed the qualitative data in order to build a better understanding of stakeholder’s perceptions about the program's successes and failures. Currently, Dr Belizaire is involved in many other research studies in Haiti about Covid-19 misinformation, SGBV, blood pressure, TB, breast cancer, and global health. This year Dr Belizaire is currently working as a research project coordinator and has participated in international, academic research conferences. Dr. Belizaire speaks French, Haitian Creole, Spanish and English.