The Nutrition Status of Haiti - Essay Example

The paper “The Nutrition Status of Haiti" is a great example of a term paper on geography. The nutrition status of Haiti can be described very clearly with few words; it is estimated that one of every three children in Haiti is malnourished. In one of Haiti’s largest cities Ready To Use Therapeutic Foods are given to children between 6 months and 5 years old. The food is a very nutritious mix of oil, sugar, peanuts, minerals, vitamins and powdered milk. Known as Medika Mamba the target is primarily toddlers who are in a crucial stage of development.

Improvement is noticed in as little as a few weeks as the children’s hair become shiny and black instead of the dullish orange hue that is symptomatic of malnutrition. Known risk factors which are associated with malnutrition include the size of families; smaller children may not be able to compete with older children in getting enough nutrition. In Haiti, it is the mother’s responsibility to provide food for the children and often they are gone all day to the market, selling goods.

During this time children are left alone to fend for themselves. There are various other programs throughout Haiti which are designed to meet the needs of these children. In Haiti, individuals are known to keep to themselves and for this reason, there is minimal community cohesiveness and many families do not participate in community outreach efforts.During times of crisis in Haiti such as the earthquake of 2010 mothers and children seem to be the group to suffer the most. When mothers have no food they are unable to nurse; when they have no shelter they must sleep in the open with their children and when they are subject to violence children are often the witness.

Following a serious outbreak of cholera, a 2013 survey concluded that significant progress has been made in women and children’s health since 2006 (BBC Monitoring Americas). Up to 100,000 children and women will be receiving improved access to important primary health care services through Unicef.  Risk factors related to the health of women and children in Haiti during the past several years have been related to occurring natural disasters. This has caused limited access to clean water, inability to reach health care providers, limited access to community teachers and resources, and a lack of funding for community programs.

Infectious diseases in Haiti are a top health concern. Following the 2010 earthquake which killed hundreds of thousands, hitting Port Au Prince, Haiti suffered an outbreak of cholera and a handful of cases of malaria. A more recent survey in 2012 which took place over a 7 month period in Leogane, Haiti showed the three most common syndromes reported were respiratory tract infections, 33%, suspected sexually transmitted diseases, 18.1%, and skin and soft tissue infections, 12% (Neuberger, Tenenboim, Golos, Pex,  Krakowsky, Urman, Vernet, and Schwartz).

A high number of respiratory tract infections can be attributed to overcrowding in refugee camps while it is possible that STD’s are reoccurring due to being over-diagnosed due to a lack of laboratory confirmation. Their prevalence in women of low socioeconomic status reaches 41%. This group over other groups seem especially prone to sexually transmitted diseases. There are much fewer males presenting with STD’s which can be attributed to their inability to get required time off from work to visit a clinic and cultural issues.

Malaria has an alarming incidence rate of 30% of fevers between November and December and there are few cases of Dengue fever. Guidelines used for prevention focus primarily on sanitation and good hygiene habits such as hand washing while limiting promiscuity and practicing safe sex methods.Haitian economy was completely thrown off balance by the 2010 earthquake though the economy resumed growth in 2011 and reached 4%, influenced by an influx of foreign assistance and remittance (The Economist Intelligence Unit).

The health status of Haitian citizens is affected by Haitian’s economy in several ways. Those who lack the means for basic survival are forced into camps which are overcrowded and lack basic necessities. Close and cramped quarters mean that infections have a high rate of spreading throughout.Haitians families with limited means also often sacrifice adequate nutrition in order to make ends meet; sometimes forgoing basic health care and enough food in order to have living quarters and avoid being forced into camps or outdoors.

While most Haitian women work to meet the food needs of the children most children are left to care for themselves during the day when not at school.With improvements in recent years in the economy, there have been decreases in some conditions with the availability of vaccines and vaccine campaigns aimed at prevention. Outreach by community organizations strives to eliminate and reduce infectious disease through better sanitation and hygiene habits.