The Haitian Health Institute at Boston Medical Center (HHI at BMC) is taking the lead in providing culturally and linguistically sensitive care for the Boston Haitian community.

The Haitian Health Institute was founded in March 1998 through the concerted effort of Haitian physicians practicing at Boston Medical Center and faculty members of Boston University School of Medicine. They work collaboratively with other BMC physicians, nurses, and staff to develop an agenda to improve health care and ensure its accessibility for Haitians.

HHI's highest priority is the development of a common plan through which to improve health care and education in the Haitian community, in part by facilitation linkage, networking, and collaboration between health, school, neighborhood, social service, religious, and public health agencies.

During its startup phase, the HHI has provided an organizational locus for a number of assessments of the health service needs of Haitian community members, including Haitian BMC medical provider assessments of existing gaps in services, benchmark studies of breast cancer screening and prenatal HIV testing and counseling among Haitian American women, and meetings and conferences for the exchange of ideas and information within Boston's Haitian medical, professional, business, and neighborhood communities.

HHI physicians collaborate with other community organizations to provide informational health outreach though the Haitian media, to investigate barriers to health care and the means of removing those barriers, and to identity and promote strategies which encourage preventive physical and mental health.