I am very pleased to welcome you here today to announce a new project that convenes the technical expertise and financial support of important actors in Haiti’s healthcare system to ensure Haitians of all incomes receive the benefits of modern, life-saving medical equipment.

Millions of dollars’ worth of medical equipment is donated yearly to Haiti by private as well as international and foreign government donors, including the U.S. Government. With few professionals trained to repair them in Haiti, many pieces of equipment are left broken or sent to the U.S. for expensive and time-consuming repairs, leaving health facilities without much needed tools to serve patients. Those biomedical engineering technicians who are currently in Haiti often charge fees that are cost-prohibitive.

So out of this critical need, the REPARE project was born to create a lasting model for affordable and timely management of biomedical equipment starting with St. Boniface Hospital in the South Department and selected Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante sites around the country.

REPARE is a public-private partnership in which private sector know-how and capital is put to work for the public good in close collaboration with government and multiplying the effect of funding from donors. The main objective is to create an efficient biomedical equipment management system in Haiti that is self-sustaining through fees for services provided by an expanded pool of qualified Haitian technicians.

I will turn it over to our partners in this development alliance to tell you how the project will work and close by expressing my thanks to the Kellogg Foundation; the GE Foundation; to St. Boniface Hospital—which is supported by a foundation, I am proud to say, based in my home state of Massachusetts; and, finally, to USAID which provides funding from the American people to strengthen the health system for the benefit of all Haitians.