Howard Karagheusian Association for Child Welfare

Type of services offered by the Association
Child Welfare Center / Primary Health Care Center / Community Development center / clinics and Small Assistance Service.

Our Vision is:
  • To provide the complete well-being of the child
  • To relieve those in distress and endeavor to their physical, moral, and social development within their families and their environment
Our Mission is:
  • To follow up the child in the family, in the school, in the street, in his environment, and prepare him or her to meet the difficulties of time
Historical background
Howard Karagheusian Commemorative Corporation is established in New York in 1921 as a Child welfare Foundation. It has served in Turkey, France and Greece before moving into the Middle East in 1943.
The Corporation established its Center in Lebanon as Howard Karagheusian Association for child welfare in 1946. It is recognized as a Primary Health Care Center by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health under an official permit number 2899 dated on 26 November 1946. The Association currently has its Advisory Committee who supervises the good governance of the Association.



Services of the Association
The good health and the full growth of the child being the primary and greatest concern, the Association extended its services in many directions in order to follow up the child and to prepare him or her to meet the difficulties of life.

1. Mother and Child Department
  • Pediatric Clinic: Consultation for TREATMENT
The pediatric service is for infants mainly up to five years old.
  • Vaccination for PREVENTION:
The vaccination program is greatly influenced by the vaccination campaign launched by the government, the media, and also by the supply of vaccine through the ministry of health.
  • Milk Distribution Service for ASSISTANCE:
Social Workers and Nurses continue to keep a list of needy mothers with babies above six months and below two years who have difficulties to feed their babies normally. The Milk Mothers program is of great help for such families.
  • Well Baby Service for EDUCATION:
The Well-Baby Service is part of mothers’ education system. Besides the lectures, demonstrations and counseling, this service proposed to mothers the regular medical follow-up of their baby’s growth by a pediatrician at least once a month without waiting that a health problem occurs.
  • Obstetric and Gynecologic Services (OBS-GYN)
The Gynecologic clinic started in 1988. The aim of the OBS-GYN clinic is to serve the young mothers who come to seek advice and some instructions or to consult a gynecologist.
Frequent lectures and talks are organized by this department to encourage the tests and exams for early detection of breast cancer and regular follow up during pregnancies.

2. School Health Services
  • Medical check up for all elementary classes:
The school health staff is divided into two teams, each team having a pediatrician and two nurses.
  • Ophthalmologic services for all students
Besides pediatric care, ophthalmology was a great concern due to the prevalence of trachoma and eye diseases in several countries of the region in the forties and fifties. Systematic vision testing in 33 different schools .The vision testing team is composed of an ophthalmologist and three nurses.
  • Dental care and tooth decay prevention programs
Dental care and department is also divided in to two teams. The first team is composed of a doctor and an auxiliary nurse who visit the schools for dental check ups. The second team is composed of a dentist and two auxiliary nurses who stay at the clinic and treat the children who have dental and teeth decay problems.
  • Milk drinking in kindergartens and first elementary classes:
  • Audiology services / Speech therapy sessions
3. Community Development Services
Community development / community empowerment can be defined as a system of social interventions in which the worker by entering into people’s familial and social tries to relieve the various problems of the families.
  • Family and Medical Assistance: Case work and group work
  • Training of young mothers in Vocational skills:
Regular courses are offered in Cooking, Dressmaking, Hair-dressing, Embroidery, Make up, First aid…. To empower young mothers.
  • School Social services
Regular follow up by social worker of complex medical and psychological cases in the schools. (PKU and Celiac Disease cases)
  • Social Re-integration and Empowerment of School drop outs
Bourj Hammoud area is considered one of the poor suburbs of Beirut district. Social problems are more noticeable in these areas because of overpopulation. A quick investigation in the schools in the area under the Associations’ social and medical supervision brought out that many school children leave classes before reaching the sixth elementary. These drop outs are threatened to become social delinquents. Exhaustive programmes of prevention, reintegration and follow up of school drop outs are necessary to diminish the problem. The objective of this program is the following:
  • Preventive work: in order to prevent school children from drop outs, a study room is created. The purpose of this study room is for tutorial sessions given to the students who need further help with their lessons and educate their mothers to follow up on the performance of their children. Currently 49 different children (age between 8 till 15 years old) benefit from this Center
  • Girls at Risk Program: (Daily 8:00 am till 2:30 pm) the focus of this program is to gather teenage school drop out girls and teach them basic languages, computer skills, hygiene courses, baby care, nutrition, arts, home economics and cooking sessions….
  • Evening Sessions for Working Teens (6:00 pm till 8:00 pm): The evening program runs three days per week for working teens (boys and girls). Language sessions, computer courses, preventive lectures and group works are given to the evening classes having a social worker as a supervisor.