Haitian Health Care : A Follow Up

I strongly believe that healthcare is a basic human right; however, the reality is that health care is often based on privilege and/or driven by employer benefits. There are many factors to consider when discussing healthcare as a basic human right. All individuals, regardless of income, race, or status should be treated equally when it comes to safe, effective, and quality health care. Even though I believe healthcare should be a human right, we have to consider how this would be feasible among different populations and societies. According toMaruthappu, Ologunde, and Gunarajasingam (2012) “a fundamental difficulty with considering healthcare as a right is that this right, unlike many others, is dependent upon the resources of a society,

Dr. Farmer understood that their horrid living conditions would have to change in order for his patients to heal. Dr. Farmer knew that Haiti itself would be unable to make this transition, which is why relying on the wealth, generosity and action from others around the world, to provide adequate necessities for the Haitians became such an important task. When his patients were given a better quality of life, they began to maintain health. For most Americans, we would be unable to fathom the undesirable living conditions, but at the same time understand why diseases run rampant in such an awful economic environment. Without the interdependence of the wealthy around the world and humanitarian belief that we are all human and deserve to be treated with equality, compassion and love, Dr. Farmer may not have been able to succeed as well as he did in Haiti. Kidder (2003) states “You want to see where Christ crucified abides today? Go to where the poor are suffering and fighting back, and that’s where he is (pg. 79).”

Illness and disease along with poverty still plague Haiti today. The effort to try and recover from the most recent earthquake tragedy has Haitians concerned. The conditions that they have endured in the past just to survive are worse than the conditions brought on by the earthquake. Some Haitian natives feel the Government is moving a bit slow in cleaning up and getting

Haiti is one of the regions with the highest HIV infection rate, especially in Caribbean. About 3% of adults are infected. The reason for that are poverty, sexual partners, gender, and almost non-existing health care.

Another struggle is that, this country has yet to develop educationally or scientifically to a national level. But women are not the only ones affected by this epidemic. The average working class makes close to $660 a year. Also, 78% of Haitians are poor (less than US$2 a day), and more than half (54%) live in extreme poverty (less than US$1 a day) ("Haiti Statistics - Haiti Partners."). The average family consists of (a) working parent(s) (most don’t have the luxury of both) and ranging from three to four children. An American couldn’t even afford a Mcdouble at McDonalds for one dollar, let alone feed six people for one to two meals.

There were many factors that contributed to Haiti becoming one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere. Agriculture, corruption, and inequality were the main reasons for the downfall of Haiti’s economy. Another major attribute would be Papa Doc and Baby Doc’s involvement in Haiti. There was a lot of corruption that happened during this til and the Haitian people took all of the fall, devastated by the consequences that followed Baby Doc as he and his wife fled. The people had to rebuild themselves from nothing and they still have not recovered from this.

One day, Diddi Washington with the mission Haiti Helping Kids was bringing basic health care services to an orphanage not far from Pierre’s village. A neighbor knew how sick Pierre was and brought him to Diddi, who rushed him to a hospital for emergency care. For one month Pierre was treated for worms, severe scabies, and Marasmus, a type of malnutrition caused by a lack

As we continue to travel into other areas of Haiti bringing food and the Gospel to many poor Haitians, we find a great need to bring more Haitian children into our Child Sponsorship Program. Here in the village of Ti Maché, one of our children from Love A Child Orphanage, Dieuferly, sits with some of the poor children of this village as he asks for your help in feeding these poor

In the years since the earthquake hit Haiti, resupplying health care, rebuilding structures, and improving living conditions, has been underfinanced. For example, Dr. Ryan K of Harvard School of Public spent three years studying the poverty in Haiti. His particular position and experience adds an internal perspective. In his text “Activity-based costing of healthcare delivery, Haiti” he explains the how the higher standards of primary care systems can advance health results, maximize efficient use of resources and improve equality in health care. Primary care shapes “the cornerstone” (p. 3) of a practical health system. Haiti has a unique situation regarding care quality. Haiti's poverty and poor population wellness outcomes and its current

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)

With anything that a nurse does in practice it is crucial for the nurse to educate the patient. Education about women’s health in Haiti as well as the nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene will help to improve all of these areas that are a major health concern in Haiti. There are currently programs in place in Haiti to improve these health concerns, however, with education and nursing interventions it will help to decrease the number of cases. For women’s health it is vital that the nurse educate about the importance of the women’s reproductive health and the importance of prenatal and antenatal care. With educating about the importance of women’s health it is also vital that the nurse educate about the importance of proper nutrition for

And in 2015, the trends have tripled. Cholera is preventable, and treatable but many Haitians do not have the resources against this disease. After a mere five years, 9,041 deaths have been registered and over 750,000 have contracted the disease. The registered deaths do not even account for the Haitians who remained in their homes and died without record. Thousands of Haitians that live in impoverished areas are suffering from this disease, one that can be easily cured in a developed country like the U.S. Cases of cholera have been much more prevalent in the poverty stricken population than the small richer population, since poorer communities or rural villages don’t have access or cannot afford clean water. Despite the flows of donated money to aid with the epidemic, cases are still increasing due to the root problem never being solved -- the unsanitary

This epidemic that had evolved into a Haiti had transformed my vision. There were so much different things that made it difficult for the people to believe the government. I felt the government didn’t work as they should.

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.

Sanitation has been, and still is a major problem in many countries, including Haiti. Although sanitation has always been an issue, major events such as the earthquake in 2010 made this problem much worse (National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine). The lack of sanitation causes many problems that affect the health and well-being of the people of Haiti. The largest problem caused by the lack of sanitation is the spread of diseases, which has been a major problem for Haiti for many years. In this paper, I will be discussing the major causes of poor sanitation in Haiti and comparing the conditions in Haiti in the past (anything before 2010) and the present (2010 and beyond).