Haiti Infant Mortality

According to UNICEF, maternal mortality in Haiti is 35 women out of every thousand; neonatal healthcare is equally abysmal, with 3.1 percent of newborns dying within the first month after birth. Most of the maternal and neonatal deaths are considered largely preventable, given adequate healthcare resources. Accessibility to these resources is another important issue, with less than 36 percent of pregnant women giving birth in any healthcare facility.

The 2010 earthquake was one of the most lethal natural disasters that have ever occurred. In the earthquake, many people lost their lies however that’s not it the GDP rate dropped drastically. The country had no immediate support consequently creating more problems. “The GDP fell 8% in 2010 (from $12.15 billion to $11.18 billion) and the GDP per capita remained unchanged at (PPP US$) 1,200.”(BBC). Social and economic problems just increased there after. Haiti is one of the poorest countries. United Nations Human Development suggests that 57.8% of the people ate deprived of basic necessities such as food and water. CNN reports a shortage of skilled labor and widespread diseases in Haiti. Even today, Haiti has the highest rate of unemployment and poverty in the Americas. About 82% of the population lives on less than $2 per day. The literacy rate is unbelievably low. Adult literacy is variously reported as 52.9% [World Fact book] and 65.3% [United Nations]. Most importantly nobody is coming to rescue the situation in Haiti. Most young children are searching for food and don’t have the time and money to afford an education. The young boys are compelled to work as a laborer at a young age and the women are marred off. According to UNICEF, the women to men ratio for education in 2014 is 1:3. So for every 3 boys only 1 girl is

The decision making is coming from the top, from the elite, from those people who do not really understand what is happening at the bottom, where most of the people are. Furthermore, Haiti seems to be plagued by corruption where the top take president. This structural inequality is even seen in the local health initiatives such as that of the Centre pour Development et la Santé (CDS), or family planning center. Maternowska sheds writes about the hierarchy that is in place, which have profound effects on the health experiences shared by the community. Instead of having a center that is helpful to women, the staff, especially those at the top which include Doctors. They ignore those who speak the Creole dialect and not French. The staff tends to have no respect and there is no quality of care. What was very shocking, is the fact that Haitian women are being used as test subjects for clinical trials of birth control methods. Even worse, the clients have to pay for these

When looking at infant mortality rates in the lowest class evidence shows that double the amount of babies die in comparison to the highest class this can be linked to poverty the poorer you are the worse your chances are even at birth. These following factors increase the risk of infant death; the age of the mother aged less than 18 years is the highest and the lowest for mothers between 30 and 34. With the high teenage pregnancy epidemic and women from lower social class background the most at risk from losing their baby.

Little Haiti, also known as Lemon City, is a neighborhood within the Miami-Dade County metropolitan area. It is located in the Northeast quadrant of the county. Its parameters are approximately delineated by NE 86th Street on the North side, I-195 on the South side, I-95 on the West side and US 1 on the East side. It encompasses the postal zip codes 33127, 33137, 33138, and 33150. Its surrounding neighborhoods are El Portal to the North, Midtown to the South, Liberty City to the West and Morningside to the East (Urban Mapping, 2011). According to 2010 census estimates, the approximate population of Little Haiti is 28,312 people living

As the most basic indicator of health, the life expectancy from birth in Haiti based on estimates by the World Health Organization is reported to be approximately fifty-five (55) years (although there are a variety of competing numbers provided by other sources). The infant mortality rate is approximately eight percent (8%) and the less than 5 years old mortality rate is over eleven percent (11.7%)

The country I have choose to utilize in the global case study is Haiti. The crisis is hurricane Matthew. As the lead nurse in a shelter working in this country and people are pouring into the shelter it is crucial to provide effective care and achieve desired patient outcomes. It is important to assess and triage the population properly, manage and prevent the spread of infection, and delegate tasks accordingly.

My nursing practice has been affected by the medical mission trips that I have taken to Haiti. This course has further expanded my knowledge of global nursing and helped me to understand and envision new ways to improve health outcomes. I have been face to face with impoverished people who lacked access to clean drinking water, proper sanitation, nourishment and healthcare services. The life expectancy at birth in Haiti for women is 64 and in men is 61 (WHO, 2015). Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is still recovering from the catastrophic earth quake that occurred in 2010. As result of the earth quake, 220,000 were killed, more than 300,000 were injured and 1.5 million people lost their homes (Breakey, Corless, Meedzan, & Nicholas, 2015). The country experienced a large cholera outbreak following the earth quake because of their poor sanitation practices. The country continues to face many health challenges, so organizations from around the world are poised to help address the health disparities experienced by the Haitian people and others in developing nations around the world. Nurses are an important member of this team as lobby for change, provide much needed financial resources, give of their time and work toward making this world a better place for everyone to live.

In the summer of 2014, as a part of the Global Medical Brigades, I visited and stayed at a small village in Nicaragua for 11 days. While visiting Nicaragua, I was really astonished by the lack of health care as well as, the lack of any health system in particular. Families did not have access to any type of medicine, unless they lived in the village and had money to spend. However, this was not the case for many of the families in the village so several of them suffered and fell ill to diseases and infections. Also, the water was not very clean and access to clean water, once again, could only be found in cities. About 50% of the population lives in poverty in which 85% of this population struggle to live on more than one-dollar daily (Balint 1999). Several communities are limited in their access to basic health services because of poor road infrastructure, which makes transportation and trade tremendously difficult. Historically, each step forward that Nicaragua has taken in the realm of development has been counteracted with a step back in the form of a revolution, natural disasters, repealing of funding for governmental projects or foreign aid. The focus of my research is observing and recording the factors that contribute to the high mortality rate of the Nicaragua populations and how these challenges can be combatted and resolved. My paper will discuss the inaccessibility of health care and why it is difficult to reach among populations that live in poverty and rural

Sad Little Story… Update: This morning, we had to send the little “abandoned baby” with our representative of the Social Services Department here in Haiti. When an orphanage receives a baby who is “abandoned,” according to the Haitian law, we cannot keep the child until he is sent to the Social Services Department. The record of “where we found the child,” his health, and any other information is recorded. Then, as needed, they will send him to a children’s hospital. (I know this baby will have to go, or he will die.) We had to send one of our “orphanage mothers” with the baby. She will have to stay at the hospital while the baby is treated. After he is well enough, the Social Services Department will decide where to send him. We pray that

Rural women in Haiti had problems with basic life needs like education and healthcare. Schooling was an issue for Haiti in general, but especially peasantry. In its post-revolutionary history, only 10% of rural Haitians were in school and less than a third of these were female. Parents wanted to send their children to school but financial strain and need for farm work took precedence. As result, kids were forced to stay at home or drop out of school. Boys started farm work early, at age 10, and girls started house work at age 7. Rural women also had limited access to female-specific healthcare. They were forced to work until end of pregnancy which caused nutritional anemia and antenatal clinics were scarce in rural areas. (N’Zengou-Tayo: 1998)

You both have made an incredible point. Third world countries have a much higher infant mortality rate secondary to poor government role in the general welfare of the people. I just checked for Haiti's infant mortality rate as it is well known for poor government regulation; it has been reported by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (n.d.), Haiti has the highest rates of infant, under-five and maternal mortality in the Western hemisphere. This is the land of my origin and it is sad to say, but this is true even in today's world. This country is definitely one that could use the touch of a fair and kindhearted political party. This will never be seen in my lifetime and that's heartbreakingly unfortunate.

Since the earthquake in 2010, Haiti has been forced to undergo extensive reconstruction efforts, both socially and economically, all while garnering massive international attention. While certain social problems existed before this natural disaster, the severity of these problems worsened in the after effect of its occurrence (“Haiti: The Challenges of Poverty Reduction 2011”). One social problem that still plagues Haitian citizens is the high level of birth rates in the average household. National birth rates hold indicative associations with the economic, political, and social health of a population; for instance, an increase in the birth rate of a country experiencing high national levels of poverty can negatively impact facets of a country’s well-being and sustainability through it positive correlation. These social problems within a state work to filter out on a global scheme as humanitarian efforts are in high demand to reprieve an unstable, government with lackluster leadership. Haiti is ranked as one of the lowest developing countries in the Western Hemisphere (“Haiti: The Challenges of Poverty Reduction 2011”), weakening its economic standing on a global front, calling out for intervention from these groups and organizations willing and able to provide support. The increasing population rates in Haiti serve to extend the country’s state of economic impoverishment, generating a need for contraceptive use.

The country that this author chose to research about is Haiti, which has some major health concerns that are present in the country. Haiti is currently working on improving these health concerns. The topics that were chosen to examine Haiti’s health more in depth was women’s health, sanitation and hygiene, and nutrition. This paper will look further into the health of women in Haiti, as well as the sanitation and water supply and nutrition of the population. This paper will also address the steps that have been taken to help improve the health of women, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene in Haiti. The population of Haiti as of 2015 is 10,711,000 (World Health Organization (WHO), 2017). Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in

Poverty is a multifaceted issue that is very much prevalent in society on both a global and local scale. The World Bank (2016) defines extreme poverty as having a daily income of less than $1.90. Poverty can be measured by looking at several factors such as Infant Mortality Rates (IMR), individuals access to basic needs, nutritional status and shelter. Unquestionably, poverty occurs in varying degrees across nations. For instance, in Canada, poverty may be evidenced in the inequities that affects a subset of the population such as natives, children, women, immigrants. Whereas, in places such in Sub Saharan Africa (Sudan) or India, poverty is predominantly widespread. In 2001, about 3 billion of the world’s population lived with poverty, about 10% of people living on less than $2 a day (World Bank, 2016). Not to mention, infant and maternal mortality rate (IMR), a good indicator of poverty, occur as a result of inadequate access to health care resources. Other ramification of poverty include; 26 % of newborn deaths due to infectious diseases, malnutrition and approximately 6 million baby deaths within the first few months of life (Kenner, Sugrue, & Finkelman, 2007). Sadly, most of these deaths could have been prevented with equitable access to resources, affordability and delivery of quality healthcare to newborn and maternal patients. Conversely, in rural Canada (Nunavut) IMR is at 18.2 per 1,000 births with Toronto’s IMR at 4.8, just 1% lower than the national