From Emergency Relief to Lasting Change: The Impact of the Francesca Rava Foundation NPH Italy in the World: 75 years of International Engagement

Okay.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the side event from Emergency Relief to Lasting Change, the impact of the Francesca Rava Foundation, NPH, Italy in the world.
75 years of international engagement hosted by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN and the Francesca Fontun Francesca Rva.
The Fontuna Francesca Rava NPH, Italy is an independent, non political, charitable non profit foundation whose mission is to help children in serious need in Italy and worldwide through children's sponsorship, fundraising projects, volunteers, and educational programs.
Thank you, everyone for joining us.
Without much further ado, I'm pleased to give the floor to Miss Mariavittoria Rava, president of the Fone Francesca Ran PH, Italy, for her welcoming remarks.
The floor is yours.
To everyone.
I'm very honored on behalf of all Francesca A Foundation team to be here, hosted by the Italian delegation and Ambassador Mr.
Giorgio Marapodi here at the United Nations, together with the International Delegation of MPH and No Pequeno Somanos, the International Humanitarian organization that we have the honor to represent in Italy and have been serving since the very beginning of our humanitarian history.
So I give a special welcome and I'm honored to introduce you to Peter Coneti doctor, volunteer and active, especially in Haiti with our programs for youth, St.
Luke.
Then I give the welcome to Mr.
Michael Macobe, CEO of NPH International.
Jennifer Reno, CEO of NPH USA, since we are here in your home country, to Mr.
Michelangelo Cambiazo, Vice President of Fonda Francisca Rva.
Then she will be a speaker and I am mostly honored to introduce miss Pascagan Director of Senimian Hospital in Haiti.
Who is my personal hero and the hero of one of the heroes of our organization for the human rights and Pedro Taga who is mission ministry of our organization, who will give an insight of the great history of our organization.
Amma Ballardi who is the project manager, and institutional manager of the relationships with the Italian Navy.
We are waiting for the Italian Navy delegation Unfortunately, they are stuck in the traffic because of an unfortunate collapse of a building, so we hope they will arrive safe and sound after yesterday very emotional event on Vespucci ship.
Sanchscava Foundation is particularly glad to be here to introduce and acknowledge our activity since 25 years in Italy and 75 years in the world with NPH.
In the defense of the most destitute children and for the rights of children.
We are here at the United Nations and we are glad to say that we have been working for fighting against children poverty, especially for the right of children to a good health and good excellent care.
In Haiti where we built a hospital which is the only hospital in Haiti, but not only that, is a hospital where, let's say, it's a hospital for the poor children that saves lives to thousands of children every year with excellent care in many words and the most important part is the empowerment of local people because doctor, nurses, and all the personnel, and first of all, our wonderful director are Asian.
This is the philosophy of the foundation.
We fight for children's rights since the very beginning, also in Italy where unfortunately, children's rights are often not respected, especially in health, in the more destitute places in the big towns, not only but everywhere.
And we have very strong initiatives with institutions, with our Ministry of Health in Italy, we organize every year a very strong campaign called the Info Pi Bambini with which we create an awareness campaign about the children rights in health.
Also concretely, we involve thousands of pharmacies all around Italy where we have our volunteers collecting medicines and goods for children in need who are hosted in orphanages and homes for abandoned children in Italy and we help every year over 50,000 children with this initiative, we involve more than 80 companies, corporations who help us with their volunteers and we received ten medals from our President Mata.
That is to say that he recognized that we are deeply engaged to fulfill the SDG goals of the United Nations in our own country.
And this we fulfill with the Italian Navy.
I'm sorry, they're not here yet, but we have been partnering with the Italian Navy, which is one of the most important institutions in Italy recognized all around the world.
This partnership started in 2010, when you all know a what happened in 1980.
A terrible earthquake hit this country that was already under strong pressure because of the lack of health structures, the lack of doctors, the lack of electricity, the lack of public schools, the lack of the main resources.
This earthquake that hit 80 destroyed most of Port-au-Prince facilities.
Unfortunately, and this is a moment of very respectful memory.
The building of the United Nations was destroyed as well with 300 people inside.
I would like altogether to give a thought to all your colleagues and our colleagues who unfortunately lost life.
There were also many Italians there.
In their memory, we went on doing our job and our commitment was always the strongest.
Our hospital was there.
It was not destroyed built with a project of an engineer from Italy.
Or Frio Vnet Giulia, that is a region very famous unfortunately for earthquakes.
He gave the best.
We believe as Ftunne Francesca NPH, that when we have to do good and we have to help, we have to do it in the best possible way.
That hospital proves it not only because it survived to this earthquake, but because it became the center of international aid and again, at the base of the Italian Navy who came with Pt Cavour, a ship normally used for defense, but then used as a hospital with hyperbaric rooms to rescue the people that were under the collapse.
This hospital hosted also international aid also from the United States, United Nations, et cetera, and it became without wanting to be a flag of efficiency, a flag of rescue of people, a flag of really commitment to do the best possible.
Many doctors, as doctor Peter Coneti but many from all the world still come to Haiti to help and to give their talents to help the local personnel to be updated with the latest cares since they often cannot travel.
We are committed as fun Franancesca Cava also to other main SDG goals of the United Nations of the Agenda 2030, but as well to the Convention of the Children's Rights.
In fact, by a coincidence, our foundation was born the November 2000, which is a very meaningful day, 20 November.
We all know it was signed the Convention for Children Rights.
Unfortunately, many countries where we work in Latin America, not only Haiti and all around the world, these rights are not yet fulfilled and respected as we all would wish.
We have a special commitment to nine countries in Latin America, Nicaragua, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia, Dominican Republic and Haiti, as I mentioned, El Salvador, maybe I didn't mention, where our organization has facilities, homes for abandoned children, and we work at very, very close contact with local institutions as well.
Our organization believes that we have to teamwork and always be respectful to the local policies to give the best service and implement programs that can really not only relief, but as you see in the title, but to bring and implement a lasting change in the life of children.
Our founder Father William Watson, despite our organization is non religious and we are independent from religion and from any political idea.
We want to be really serving without limits.
At the same time, our founder was a priest and he taught us our philosophy, main principle, that is one child at a time from the street to a degree.
The second main pillar is education.
We cannot just save a child, giving food, water, which are obviously necessary for their survival in many countries still unfortunately.
We cannot just give excellent care.
We have to be sure that they have a family and that they receive education to become independent citizens in their own countries.
This is what 25 years ago when I met NPH struck my attention and I think the vision of our organization is extremely modern.
We speak nowadays about impact, about lasting change, about respect and since the very beginning, I was asked in my own role to a implement programs that could really bring this lasting change.
In my brief life of 25 years but intense of serving this organization, I saw with my eyes and I met in these countries children who were raised by organization.
They were just 2-years-old or just newborn babies.
I saw them in Sanmian hospital in terrible conditions.
I saw them out in our home.
I saw them attending our school.
I saw them choosing their future not only as lawyers, doctors, as engineers, but also as hairdressers, as mechanics, many other professions.
Now I know them they have the age of my own children, 25-years-old is 26-years-old to 20-years-old and they are very well educated children, girls and boys who are able to create a family, to create respect around them, and to be productive citizens in their countries.
Once again, our commitment to relief and lasting change is in the field of humanitarian emergencies.
I guess here at the United Nations, you have constantly the attention on the actual very serious humanitarian emergencies all around the world.
Every day we have a new issue.
It is very tough for organizations like us not to a give attention to these situations, and we always think that we don't have to leave anyone behind us.
Together with the Italian Navy and this is a very significant partnership that I would like to bring to your attention as an example of how a humanitarian organization can productively work with such an important institution.
Since the earthquake in Haiti, working hand in hand, bringing dead bodies and I moving dead bodies and saving lives.
It was born in such a strong reciprocal esteem that I was asked by the Ministry of Defense in Italy to sign a protocol to deliver a long lasting commitment to all humanitarian emergencies.
From then, we are called when there is an emergency in the world to go with our volunteer doctors.
Many of them started in Haiti and still are with us.
And we are on the Italian Navy ships.
For example, we have been for five years in the Mediterranean Sea with hundreds of our doctors, excellent doctors of the best hospitals in Italy and in the world, giving free assistance and rescue to the migrant families that unfortunately were sinking in the sea and still are.
We have been on the Italian ship Nav Volcano now in the Gaza conflict.
We have been with our doctors rotating night and day with intensive care doctors, pediatric surgeons to give immediate first assistance to the children that were sent by helicopter on the ship to be stabilized, and then we were sending them to the first ready hospitals to host them in Italy, but also not in Italy.
We have been on the navy ships for the earthquake that hit Turkey, bringing immediately medicines and a lot of goods including a donation from our Holiness, the Pope, who sent donations for the children.
We have been in Ukraine, we have been in Lebanon.
I would say our foundation tries always to be effective, doing things and programs that have an impact bigger than our dimension, bigger than the money we fundraised Why? Because we try to do it team with institutions, and we have been working with the United Nations in Haiti, for example, to implement programs in the slums areas.
We do it in partnership with companies who donate in kind, all the important equipment that we need to donate and bring very urgently to the hospitals and places where an emergency is born.
Also we partner with volunteers who always respond immediately to our call to actions.
Why? Because they saw with their own eyes what we do.
They trust our work and they feel they're really doing the difference in the human rights, especially for the children's rights.
So I don't want to take away time from my colleagues who are here, and so I thank you for the attention and my call to action today is especially to United Nations and the committees about human rights to focus a strong attention on Haiti.
We are aware of the many wars and the many problems that affect the world.
In Haiti, in our opinion, there is a silent Holocaust.
There are no news on the press, very seldom, there is an international attention that brings aid to Haiti.
We know the situation is very complex.
We know that at the United Nations, there is a strong commitment, but we encourage to be there with your mind and soul because when the United Nations were there strongly, there was a difference.
Thank you for your attention and I pass the word to my colleagues.
Thank you.
Thank you, President, for so effectively outlining the values, the work, and the mission of the foundation.
Before I give the floor to the next distinguished guest and speaker, will now show a video that walks us through the work of the Raba Foundation for the past 70 years.
Let's watch it together.
Supporting children, adolescents and women in distress in Italy and around the world.
With this goal in mind, the Francesca Rava Foundation was established in the 2000 in memory of Francesca, who passed away prematurely.
We represent in Italy, the organization Nss Pins Romans, which has been rescuing thousands of orphaned and abandoned children from the streets since 1954.
We support children and youth, which are housed in MPH homes located in nine countries in Latin America, with long distance adoptions, volunteer camps, empowerment projects, and fundraising.
Social and environmental sustainability is a fundamental value for us, and all our projects contribute to the goals of the United Nations 2030 agenda.
Our heart beats for Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, where one in three children dies before the age of five.
Here, in 2006, we inaugurated the MPH St.
Damien Hospital, which saves 80,000 children each year.
It is the largest hospital on the island and the only free pediatric hospital.
In 2010, a devastating earthquake caused over 220,000 deaths in the country.
We are always on the front lines of the rescue efforts.
The St.
Damien Hospital becomes the only operational hospital on the island for days on end and the Center for international aid.
In Italy, we also intervene where there is need.
In 2013, we launched the initiative infaraca Pribi.
In more than ten years, we have collected 1,800,000 medicines and baby care products for children that are housed in around 900 organizations that focus on child welfare.
We support these organizations through educative and inclusion projects.
We have provided medical assistance in the Mediterranean to over 150,000 migrant children and pregnant women.
Our emergency response activities are ongoing.
In 2016, we intervened in the earthquake in Central Italy and rebuilt eight schools.
During the pandemic, we sent equipment and medical supplies to 30 hospitals and supported 55,000 people in need through the SOS Visa Project.
Through the Burl Car Initiative, we help young people in care facilities or those involved in the judicial system.
We offer them orientation and training activities to help support their reintegration in a working environment.
And with Palo Centro, we create opportunities for reintegration for the youth house at Cis Recaria Juvenile Detention Center in Milan.
With the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we acted quickly to send medical supplies and to welcome the families arriving in Italy.
In 2023, we intervened to provide aid to those affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
We shipped medical supplies on the Nave Marco, which were delivered to an emergency medical facility.
We were also on the front lines during the flood in Emilia Romana, providing a moving bakery and corporate volunteer activities to help the impacted population.
In the Gaza emergency, coordinating with the Ministry of Defense and the Navy, we sent 25 doctors and nurses on the ve Volcano to assist children in need of care alongside military and medical personnel.
Also, in 2023, we were honored guests of the President Serge Marela in Rome to share our long term commitment at sea, thanks to our historic synergy with the Italian Navy.
The sea geographically divides countries but unites them through humanitarian projects.
Starting that same year, we became the humanitarian partner of the Amerigo Vespucci ships World Tour, which lasted two years.
The journey continued in 2025 with the Mediterranean tour, which brought the ship to 17 Italian ports, where we organized educational workshops for over 300 children hosted by foster homes.
Furthermore, today, dozens of participants have successfully completed Borsbl, the maritime focused educational program designed to help young people from fragile backgrounds find their path.
In 2026, the president of the Republic, Sergo Marla, welcomed a delegation to the urinale Palace for the presentation of the book, recounting 25 years of work.
Since the 2000, wherever there is a child or a family in need, we are there.
A sincere thanks to all of you, donors, volunteers, sponsors, companies, and friends, please continue to support us.
Truly inspiring.
I am now pleased to give the floor to miss Victoria Sees Dominica, Deputy Director of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who joins us remotely.
Good morning, Madam Chair.
I hope you can hear me.
Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.
Can you hear us? Yes, I hear you well.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
And good morning to everyone.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak on the humanitarian crisis in Haiti and for all of the work in support for the most vulnerable in Haiti.
I was listening with a lot of attention and it is a pleasure to hear about the work that you have been conducting in Haiti or since before the earthquake hit.
I have to say that as much as before the earthquake took place in Haiti in Portu Prance, there was somehow optimism for the future of the country.
Years later, at this point in time, we are facing one of the most severe and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere, as we have just heard.
Um, according to the data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of people that require humanitarian assistance in Haiti has sharply increased over the last two years from 5.5 million people in 2024 to 6.4 million people in 2026.
What this means is that over half of the Haitian population, this is a total of 11.9 million people now needs humanitarian assistance.
More than half of the total population, over 5.4 million people are facing very high levels of acute food insecurity.
What this means is that in a country that is able to produce food and it's a fertile country, half of its population is acutely food insecure as of figures of late last year.
Beyond the violence and armed groups that are in many different parts of the countries, the country, we also know that Haiti remains highly vulnerable to natural disaster events.
Last year, for example, category five Hurricane Melissa, impacted Haiti in October and we know that natural disasters, including earthquakes are recurrent and this further increases the vulnerability of people.
I want to make reference to internal displacement due to the ongoing violence in Haiti because it has really reached unprecedented levels.
A total of 1.45 million people, so 1,000,000.5 almost people are now internally displaced.
This is a total of 12% of the population.
Displacement has not only doubled within the last year and a half, but we also know that the conditions in displacement sites are extremely squalid.
Very dirty displacement sites, very poor sanitation conditions, water and sanitation are inadequate, and in general, the sites are very overcrowded and unsafe.
It is really important, therefore, to create conditions for people displaced in different parts of Haiti to safely and voluntarily return home.
We have heard from Mayor Victoria, the first speaker, how the protection crisis in Haiti is also deepening.
We know that armed groups are marking violence that does not stop and continues to create displacement of people in Haiti.
The levels of violence are really shocking and particularly women, girls, and children are suffering from it.
It is horrific and it must stop.
Sexual violence continues to be systematically used by armed groups as a tool to cause terror and it's particularly targeted against women and girls.
In the first five months of this year only, between January and May of 2026, humanitarian partners have recorded over 3,100 incidents of gender based violence.
This is about 20 cases per day.
We know that in general, gender based violence is highly under reported.
So we know this is the tip of the iceberg.
Of those cases that have been reported, over 70% of them involve rape and other forms of sexual violence, majority of which have been identified as gang rape.
Of survivors of sexual violence, one in six is a girl under the age of 18-years-old.
This follows similar patterns as last year where humanitarian partners in total reported more than 8,000 survivors of gender based violence.
Again, knowing that this number is highly under reported and increases the number from last year.
We're unfortunately in a trend where this year will again increase the numbers compared to what was recorded last year.
Protecting women and girls from gender based violence is a collective responsibility and is absolutely essential.
Humanitarian actors continue to respond.
In total, there is $24 million this year required for response to gender based violence.
At the moment, only 5% of the total funding required has been received this year alone.
Of the money that humanitarian partners need to address gender based violence victims to support them, only a small percentage, 5% has been received.
You spoke, Madam Chair, about Heidi's children and their life is a daily struggle for survival.
We know that one in every two persons displaced in Haiti, that's almost 50% of people displaced is a child and more than 2.8 million children in Haiti require humanitarian assistance.
It's 44% of the total number of people in need that have been recorded by humanitarian partners.
The way the humanitarian crisis is affecting the children of Haiti is extremely the way that the armed groups and the situation is affecting the children of Haiti is extremely high.
According to UNICEF, the number of children in Haiti recruited and used by armed groups has skyrocketed.
The estimate is about a 200% increase in children that are being recruited by armed groups, and these reflects a growing reliance on the exploitation of children amongst ongoing violence and armed groups that control various parts of the country, including Port-au-Prince that we know is under the control of armed groups in 95% of its total area.
The way that children in Haiti are impacted is also through the lack of education.
We know that more than 1,600 schools remain closed in the country because of the ongoing violence.
This affects 250,000 children who are not able to receive the education that they should receive and therefore are missing out on a future.
The children of Haiti want a future and they deserve a future.
In this very complex environment, I want to advocate here for the protection of humanitarian space.
Protecting the vulnerable people of Haiti from violence and preserving humanitarian space for aid workers has become increasingly dangerous and is at the same time essential for humanitarian workers to continue to do their work.
At the moment, the UN and its partners are working in all areas, including areas that are under the control or the influence of armed groups.
This means that we strictly adhere to humanitarian principles in the way that we work to make sure that lifesaving assistance can reach vulnerable people wherever they are.
General Assembly Resolution 46182 recognizes the need for humanitarians to engage with all parties and to engage with anybody to secure humanitarian access and to secure access to people that need the assistance, and that continue to happen in Haiti.
It is important that humanitarian actors are not criminalized for engaging with armed groups because what they do is to speak to them to be able to reach populations in need, whether they're living under areas under the control of armed groups or elsewhere.
I OTAb in Haiti continues the dialogue between the Grog suppression force that has recently started to deploy in the country and between humanitarians to make sure that the dialogue and the exchange of information as relevant takes place.
I also want to underline how the situation in Haiti is not just a humanitarian one but requires long term systemic responses that go beyond humanitarian assistance.
Humanitarians focus on the most acute lifesaving needs.
But at the same time, we know that humanitarian action alone cannot change the trajectory of a crisis.
What is needed is lasting improvements and broader efforts, including on the security front, political stability and sustained investments in essential services that help make that positive shift in the trajectory of the country and the way the people of Haiti are supported and that cannot be left alone in the hands of humanitarians.
It's not for humanitarians to provide these essential services.
At the moment, for example, only 10% of health facilities nationwide are fully operational and it's a similar percentage in Port Au France, the capital that has typically had better healthcare facilities than other parts of the country.
Humanitarian agencies are ready to support, but as I said, durable solutions depend on the collective engagement beyond humanitarian action.
I don't want to finish without a word to our teams.
I want to recognize the remarkable dedication of all humanitarian workers, whether it's NGO, UN, Red Cross, family, all humanitarian workers are so dedicated and take big risks to support their work and the people affected by humanitarian crisis and in particular in the case of Haiti, our national staff.
Many of them many of them themselves displaced, living under the threat of violence, extortion, sometimes even subject to kidnapping, and they continue to show extraordinary professionalism and commitment.
They are essentially negotiating access with armed actors.
They managed to deliver assistance in areas that are extremely difficult to reach.
They maintain essential services despite ongoing violence, insecurity, and limited resources.
Let me make a reference, Madam Chair, to the limited resources because Last year, humanitarian partners reached around 3 million people with lifesaving assistance.
This is a significant achievement despite the limited resources and the difficult operating environment in Haiti.
I want to conclude with a very simple message.
The people of Haiti cannot wait The figures and the numbers that I have shared with you are not abstract.
They represent families, they represent children that have been uprooted and separated from their parents, children that have lost not only their homes, but also the sense of safety, their communities, the possibility of an education that will give them a better future and even the most basic basic services.
It is essential that the international community retains its focus and support for Haiti and that we together allow the country to get back on the path of stability, including to allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
I'm going to wrap up with three key asks for Haiti.
First, the violence needs to stop.
It is essential that the violence subsides so that people can go back to their normal lives and to their homes.
Second, There is a need for more predictable and flexible funding for humanitarian organizations.
Without funding, it's not possible to deliver.
I mentioned the assistance that the humanitarians have given, for example, in the area of gender based violence.
But there is, of course, activities in water sanitation and hygiene, food security.
However, only halfway through the year, Only one quarter of the humanitarian response plan for Haiti is funded by 28%.
So the humanitarian plan has only been funded so far by 28%.
Of the total 880 million that are needed to support 4.2 million people in Haiti, only 250 million have been received.
These funding shortfalls really limit the capacity of humanitarians to deliver and to give you an example, Last year, only 30% of survivors of sexual violence received assistance within the critical first 72 hours that decreases the risk of sexually transmitted infections and diseases, unintended pregnancies, and long term physical and psychological trauma.
Let me repeat that.
Out of all the survivors of sexual violence, only 30% were able to receive the critical assistance in the first 72 hours due to the budget cuts.
My third ask is, please let's not leave humanitarian action alone to change the trajectory of the crisis in Haiti.
We need political solutions, we need investments in development, and we need assistance that treats the causes of the crisis.
The people of Haiti deserve more than just survival.
They deserve safety, dignity, and opportunity, and the time to act is now.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Gosh.
Thank you, Deputy Director.
Thank you for your very clear and impactful message.
I'm now pleased to give the floor to doctor Pascal Gazan, medical doctor and General Director of the Sanmen Pediatric.
Hello, everyone.
It is a great honor to speak with you today to share the experiences of St.
Damien Hospital, one of the leading pediatric and maternal care centers of Haiti.
We are grateful to the Rava Foundation for its invitation and its support of our maternal health and pediatric surgery programs.
Standing here today gives us the opportunity to share the voices of children and families that we support every day.
Would like to also thank the NPH USA and NPH International.
For many years they have stood alongside St.
Damien Hospital.
Thanks to their commitment, we continue to care for children, support mothers, train young professionals, and keep our hospital open despite successive crises.
When we talk about Haiti, we often talk about natural disasters, violence, a lack of security, and political instability.
That is a reality.
We experience it every day.
This translates into very real situations.
Families arriving after several hours of travel, difficulty accessing medications, postponed medical tests, pregnant women who take risks to give birth, sick children who sometimes wait too long before receiving care.
Under these circumstances, a few hours or a few days can make all the difference for a child or a mother But today, we haven't come here just to talk about the challenges.
We have come to talk about what we can still do even in a situation like ours in Haiti.
Contrary to the current trend in Haiti where healthcare facilities are closing, St.
Damien Hospital continues to operate 247 and seven days a week.
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians, Maintenance staff, drivers, and administrators report for duty with the same sense of responsibility to welcome, to care for, and to protect children and mothers who come to us.
In 2025, more than 24,000 patients were treated at our hospital.
Families came from all ten departments across the country to seek care that they often could not receive elsewhere.
Behind these numbers are newborns who needed intensive care, pregnant women who arrived in emergency to give birth, gravely ill children and children with cancer or other life threatening illnesses, who found a team ready to take care of them.
For thousands of families, this meant that they could still find a doctor, a midwife, care or a medical procedure when their child or their pregnancy could not wait.
Our work at St.
Damien Hospital focuses on three main areas, pediatrics, which is the heart of what we do.
Every day, we care for children with acute and chronic illnesses, as well as those requiring specialized care.
The maternity ward cares for women with high risk pregnancies or obstetric emergencies, and there is one area that is of particular importance.
The St.
Damien Hospital is the home to the only department dedicated to treating pediatric cancer patients in Haiti.
For many families, it is the only opportunity to obtain a diagnosis, to receive chemotherapy, surgery, and to be cared for by a specialized multidisciplinary team.
When our hospital remains open, children from all across the country continue to receive lifesaving treatment.
We have been able to continue our work in such a difficult environment thanks to three factors, three strengths.
The first and foremost are the men and women who work at St.
Damien Hospital every day in spite of the risks of violence, difficulties with transportation and many uncertainties.
These men and women choose to come to work.
They don't always know what the day has in store for them.
But they know why they come to care, to support, and to save lives.
The second strength is the families.
Despite the often impassable roads, displaced populations, and a lack of security, they continue to travel long distances to ensure that their children receive medical care.
Pregnant women also overcome these obstacles to come to St.
Damien Hospital to give birth.
The trust they place in us is a responsibility we carry with us every day.
Our third strength is our partners.
The Ra Foundation, NPH International, NPH USA, each bring unique contributions that make this work possible.
Their commitment is reflected in concrete actions.
It makes it possible to improve the maternity ward, expand pediatric surgery, and continue providing care for children with cancer and to improve the care offered to thousands of children and families.
But our responsibility extends beyond patient care.
St.
Damien Hospital is also a training center.
We have pediatric residencies, medical students, and nursing students.
In addition, the hospital offers a pediatric residency program.
Training these young professionals also means preparing for the future of Haiti's health care system.
Today, we are not asking for compassion.
We are asking for sustainable partnerships.
We are not asking for others to do our work for us.
We are asking for those who still believe in the future of Haiti to continue supporting the institutions that are still standing, investing in a hospital that continues to operate during a crisis is not just a matter of responding to an emergency.
It means enabling women to give birth safely.
It means giving a child with cancer or another life threatening illness a chance to receive care.
It means training doctors and nurses who will carry on this work for future generations.
It also means preserving part of a country's Healthcare system, allow me to conclude by sharing what I believe.
At a time when many doors are closing, the door of St.
Damien Hospital must remain open, open to sick children, open to mothers.
Open to families who know that there they will find a team ready to welcome them and care for them, open to young professionals that we are training today and who will take the reins tomorrow.
Behind every door that remains open, there is more than just a hospital.
There is a promise made to a population, a promise to not abandon them.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you.
Thank you for shedding light on the challenges and the work on the ground.
Now I'm pleased to give the floor to doctor Pedro Artaga, Mission Minister of Nuestro Pinnos Hermanos International.
Thank you.
Emergency and lasting change.
Well, I think we all have all kinds of experiences with emergencies, big ones and maybe not so big ones, but still an emergency for us personally.
Thinking about what could have been possibly something that we can all relate to is maybe running late to catch a plane or a train or a bus and we are getting nervous and it's an emergency because we need to get to a certain place and as it gets closer and closer, we get maybe more and more frustrated and angry and annoyed about the whole situation.
Then of course, we look, whom can we blame? Well, maybe it's the cab driver who didn't run the red light or I don't know, the lady at the coffee shop who took too much time to get me my coffee and I'm running late because of that.
Maybe it's the fault of the police officer who stopped me to give me a speeding ticket.
But the emergency continues.
The fact is, I might miss my plane, I might miss my bus or my train.
Usually, we think it's not my fault, it's not our own fault or my lack of doing what could have been done before.
Father Bill Wason, 75 years ago, found himself in an emergency that he didn't ask for.
A little boy stole money from his church.
Police caught him and said, Well, it's an orphan.
They don't really know what to do.
They asked him, if you want to go ahead, punish him.
He said, Well, give him to me.
I'll take care of him.
Police officers thought he is a little out of his mind.
But Father Won't decided that he was going to take him in and he told him, you don't have a home, you don't have a family, you can stay here and I will provide for you.
The next day, the little boy was gone.
He said, Well, it was worth a try.
The day after that, he came back with a few of his buddies that were orphans too.
He got them and said, There's a dude who's going to help us.
That's how the whole thing started.
Father was had to jump on this train which he didn't expect.
He wasn't prepared for it, he hadn't planned for it.
He was maybe not even skilled for it.
But he was willing to jump on that train.
I like to call it the NPH Express because it was going fast.
Within a year, he had close to 100 kids and tried to rent a house and try to find the means and do whatever he can.
His meager salary as a priest was not enough to take care of all those kids, so he reached out.
But he wanted to make sure that these kids had more than just food and shelter and security, but that they had a home.
He said, This is your new family.
This is where we are.
We'll do what we can.
He took them in and it became a family.
It became about relationship.
It became about doing what is necessary, what we do for our children.
Food, shelter, healthcare, education, but first and foremost, home.
You're never going to be sent away.
We'll be here for you.
That's when he started one child at a time.
It was not only helping them, but actually truly empowering them, giving them the tools that down the road, they won't be a burden to society, there won't be a problem to be resolved in one of the prisons.
He was there to help.
He wasn't alone in that.
First, it was family, then it was friends, then it extended more and more.
Before you notice, there was a benefactors circle in the United States where he came from and it started to grow, it became bigger and bigger.
That's also how my family was involved.
My dad knew him before he was even a priest.
One day he called my dad and said, I need help.
I might have said, Well, how much do you need? I said, no, it's not about money.
Well, I'll take the money too.
But what I do need is organize a fundraising office in Germany.
My dad lived in Germany.
My dad said, absolutely, no.
I have no idea.
I don't know how to do that.
He said, Oh, don't worry, God will help.
I will send you somebody, people will help you.
That's how the German office started.
Well, first there was United States, Austria, Canada, it started growing all over the place.
Germany, eventually, Being my dad's son, I was instrumental helping.
God put Maria Victoria on my path and so I pushed her into it, and then I ran away.
In that sense, we do what we can one child at a time.
Providing help that goes beyond just, you're hungry, I give you something to eat.
Certainly, that's very important.
But going beyond that, With that, 85 Honduras was founded.
Because Father was new, Mexico isn't the only country with problems.
After Honduras, Haiti came in.
With Haiti, there was the need not only for the orphaned children, but their healthcare.
One of the priests that was working there said, they need a doctor.
He himself went back to school and learned to be a doctor.
Father Rick, great man, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Peru, Bolivia.
Until 2005, Father Watson wanted to continue to start new houses and everybody said, stop it.
It's too much, but he would move forward.
Trusting that help will be there, that he's not alone.
One of the big things that started beyond the orphanages and the houses that we would take care for the children was the hospital in Haiti.
We had no idea what it would turn into, but we have seen over time it was building future, future for so many who have received help.
Earthquake 2010, shortly after I get a phone call, you need to go.
Next day, I was on the plane heading out, first responder.
I was blessed to be there and to actually welcome the Marina Italiana, the first one that came and started working.
It was incredible working together.
I remember a very strong experience.
We had about 1,000 people in a hospital that was made for 150 on the floors and out in the garden and everything and no food.
Well, there was an Italian baker who was able to get the machines running again and started baking 247 to produce bread for them.
Surprisingly, it was enough.
Everybody got something to eat.
Well, times have changed.
We still do, of course, take care of the children, but the how has changed because having them in family, supporting the families, making sure there's not only them, but also their siblings that being taken care of.
It's grown, it's a challenge.
It's a big train to jump on.
The question is, Are we willing to be on that train? Are we willing to help with that wherever we can, with whatever we can? Sometimes it's just through passing on the word, doing whatever we can, making sure that at least these children will have the help.
It's not going to resolve the problems of all the world, but it certainly is going to resolve the problems of these children.
Perseverance, continuing to do the good job.
So that was started, Father Watson is long gone, all the beginning benefactors are gone, and yet, it's a race that we run together.
We don't have to fix everything, but what we can, we do, one child at a time.
There is an emergency, there always will be emergencies, but there will be lasting responses, lasting changes.
It's up to us where we are to do what we can, one child at a time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for showing us what it takes to take on the challenge and catch that train to help one child at a time.
Our very insightful discussion today is drawing to an end and I'm pleased to give the floor to the permanent representative of Italy to the United Nations for his closing remarks.
Giorgio Marapodi, ambassador of the world, the floor is yours.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I I welcome the cadets of the ambiguous butch who are joining us.
Now in this moment, welcome to all of you.
Well, it's not easy to uh to deliver final remarks, I mean, this event has been, I think, very inspiring for all of us.
I mean, I have known the work of the Francesca Ava for many years now and the way they have worked in Haiti with Roestro Po Sermano.
I know I know their commitment.
The the the impact that they are having with their activities.
But listening today from directly from the actors that are involved every day in this in this activity, of course, is a Casting a new light, a very enlightening ray of light on your activity.
I knew of the activity guided by love, responsibility, sharing, safety, empowerment, transparency, and steadfast commitment to education and health of children, of working for children's rights.
But again, I mean, it's having listened directly from you today it has added a lot.
So I thank you.
I thank you all.
I thank you, Maria Victoria.
Thanks for having brought this experience to New York, to the UN for having given us the opportunity to present it here at the UN and please count on us, on me on my colleagues on the permanent mission of Italy for the future.
I know in any way we can make a contribution to your activity, we will be more than happy to do it.
Thank you.
Thank you to all of you.
Thanks.
Thank you again.
Thank you.
Can we play the video again? Oh.
Supporting children, adolescents, and women in distress in Italy and around the world.
With this goal in mind, the Francesca Rava Foundation was established in the 2000 in memory of Francesca, who passed away premature.
We represent in Italy the organization Nuestras Pues Romans, which has been rescuing thousands of orphaned and abandoned children from the streets since 1954.
We support children and youth, which are housed in MPH homes located in nine countries in Latin America, with long distance adoptions, volunteer camps, empowerment projects, and fundraising.
Social and environmental sustainability is a fundamental value for us, and all our projects contribute to the goals of the United Nations 2030 agenda.
Our heart beats for Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, where one in three children dies before the age of five.
Here, in 2006, we inaugurated the MPH St.
Damien Hospital, which saves 80,000 children each year.
It is the largest hospital on the island and the only free pediatric hospital.
In 2010, a devastating earthquake caused over 220,000 deaths in the country.
We are always on the front lines of the rescue efforts.
The St.
Damien Hospital becomes the only operational hospital on the island for days on end and the Center for international aid.
In Italy, we also intervene where there is need.
In 2013, we launched the initiative in Faraca Pribami.
In more than ten years, we have collected 1,800,000 medicines and baby care products for children that are housed in around 900 organizations that focus on child welfare.
We support these organizations all through educative and inclusion projects.
We have provided medical assistance in the Mediterranean to over 150,000 migrant children and pregnant women.
Our emergency response activities are ongoing.
In 2016, we intervened in the earthquake in Central Italy and rebuilt eight schools.
During the pandemic, we sent equipment and medical supplies to 30 hospitals and supported 55,000 people in need through the SOS Visa Project.
Through the Bur de Car Initiative, we help young people in care facilities or those involved in the judicial system.
We offer them orientation and training activities to help support their reintegration in a working environment.
And with Palo Centro, we create opportunities for reintegration for the youth housed at Cis Reecia Juvenile Detention Center in Milan.
With the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we acted quickly to send medical supplies and to welcome the families arriving in Italy.
In 2023, we intervened to provide aid to those affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
We shipped medical supplies on the Nave Marco, which were delivered to an emergency medical facility.
We were also on the front lines during the flood in Emilia Romana, providing a moving bakery and corporate volunteer activities to help the impacted population.
In the Gaza emergency, coordinating with the Ministry of Defense and the Navy, we sent 25 doctors and nurses on the Nave Volcano to assist children in need of care alongside military and medical personnel.
Also, in 2023, we were honored guests of the President Cerro Mata in Rome to share our long term commitment at sea, thanks to our historic synergy with the Italian Navy.
The sea geographically divides countries but unites them through humanitarian projects.
Starting that same year, we became the humanitarian partner of the Amerigo Vespucci ships World Tour, which lasted two years.
The journey continued in 2025 with the Mediterranean tour, which brought the ship to 17 Italian ports, where we organized educational workshops for over 300 children hosted by foster homes.
Furthermore, today, dozens of participants have successfully completed Bursa Blue, the maritime focused educational program designed to help young people from fragile backgrounds find their path.
In 2026, the president of the Republic, Sergei Mata, welcomed a delegation to the unale Palace for the presentation of the book, recounting 25 years of work.
Since the 2000, wherever there is a child or a family in need, we are there.
A sincere thanks to all of you, donors, volunteers, sponsors, companies, and friends, please continue to support us.
Thanks for making it through the New York traffic and joining us last minute, thank you for all your inspiring remarks.
Have a great day, everyone.
Thank you.