Health Issues in Haiti - Case Study Example

Health issues in Haiti Introduction Haiti is a country located in West Indies and at the island of Hispaniola where it covers almost a third of it and the rest is occupied by Dominican Republic. Two thirds of the country is covered by mountains and the other part is characterised by valleys, plateaus and plains. The first records about the country started in 1492 where a European settled around the Atlantic Ocean which is currently called the Caribbean Sea. During this time, the people around the region were Arawakan. As the oldest black republic after US, Haiti was to free slaves if it would win Spain’s independence (Anup, 2010). Political structure The 1804 constitution approved several aspects about the country in that there was freedom of religion but the national religion was to be catholic. The constitution also stated that all the members of the state would be regarded as black. This was meant to reduced racism that had spread so much in the country whereby Europeans were given more favour due to their skin colour. There was also a statement that no white individual would own property in the country. There were riots in 1843 that were meant to develop a better parliament. Robert (2006) describes that the economic situations worsened in 1946 which resulted to a military coup where the country was then led by a black person who developed more infrastructures on the social and labour policies. Haiti is now ruled by an elected government and in the years 1986 to 1989 the country was under a military government. A new constitution was approved which allowed for parliamentary members to be elected. These members would include a president, prime minister and cabinet ministers. There were other violent cases in 2004 which left many dead and they were led by people who were opposing Aristide. It was also in this year where this president was removed from power due to the many violent cases reported in the country. These disputes have made Haiti lag behind in terms of reforming its economy and the political system. Even now there are reports about gangs engaging in substance use and violent acts and have moves to the extent of kidnapping individuals. The frequent reports about the violation of human right in Haiti made the United Nation move to Haiti in the year 1994. When Aristide left power, an interim force was founded followed by MINUSTAH was founded under the United Nation Stabilization Mission who’s aimed at initiating change to the lives of the Haitians. This was to protect citizens from violence, stabilizing the political, economic and social status of the country and finally to ensure that human rights are offered to all members. In 2007, the country experience an increase in user products which increased the standards of living thus making people to fought government as it could not be in a position to provide these amenities. This violence made the Prime minister, Alexis to resign but another one was elected in 2008. Economic development has also been reduced due to the climate experienced in the area over the past few years. These include the hurricanes, Ike and the recent earthquake which led to depression and instability in the country. Health care model Over the recent years, Haiti has been faced with many health problems. Ways of addressing these pressing problems have been proposed by ICC through organising programs meant to cater for the needs of the affected citizens. Some of the major problems are childhood diseases. Due to the poor climate of the region, children easily suffer from diseases which can be prevented but due to poor health conditions diseases such as tetanus and whooping cough were difficult to prevent. Other major diseases affecting the people of Haiti include HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that many adults in the region are affected by the virus. These patients have found it hard to live with the disease and thus the International Child Care has moved forward in order to support these patients. This move has been facilitated by provision of ARV drugs and sensitising people on the need to protect them against the virus. Other health problems include lack of proper sanitation which has been a major problem on the lives of many people living in the area as it contributes to breeding of many diseases such as diarrhoea and typhoid which has resulted to too many people dying of the disease. This problem has recently been reduced through the construction of many latrines and improved drainage which has been facilitated by the ICC. Due to this poor drainage, most of the water that people consume is contaminated and studies have shown that 30 percent of the total population use contaminated water for their day to day activities. Individuals have therefore been advised to dig more wells and to avoid the use of contaminated water. There has been a strong correlation between the educated individuals in the area and the health status of people living in developing countries. It has therefore been reported that in Haiti, 50 percent of people can not access education services either due to lack of resources or the schools are too far or there are none at all (Center of disease control and prevention, 2009). This is mostly felt in the rural areas especially in Northern Haiti. According to Michael, (2005) illiteracy level especially in adults is very risky as it denies people many opportunities in life such as acquiring a better paying job, improving the standards of living in terms of good food, clothing and shelter. Initiatives have been introduced in order to improve the lives of these people who can neither read nor write found in the slums of Port-au- Prince. Training classes have been introduced to induce a sense of hope and self esteem among poor families. Micro finance initiatives introduced in 1986 was meant to break poverty levels among women who are the main supporters of Haiti families. Currently these initiatives have grown in number to about twelve with each group consisting with a minimum of ten. They meet in these groups and organise for loans which they later pay to the ICC. These loans have been of much help as the women are able to develop themselves by opening up small businesses and providing their families with the basic needs. It has always been a child’s right to be born health but in Haiti, giving birth to a health child has been ignored and this has made Haiti to record many cases of infant mortality in the entire world. In most countries in the world this problem has mostly been due to certain diseases such as HIV/AIDS or if a mother has complications at the time of birth. However in Haiti the problem is mostly caused by poor facilities and lack of quality health services. The other problem is that mothers lack enough money to deliver from the hospital thus prefer to give birth at their homes which bring about many infections. Education of Nurses Studies show that more than 80 percent of mothers give birth at home and among these births only half of them obtain assistance from outside. In order to reduce these mortality rates, Healthy Birth programs have been introduced with professional and trained midwives to help pregnant mothers and to give all the care needed for a child to survive such as pre-natal care and post-natal care. Other diseases that are so common in Haiti include tuberculosis. There are several facts that have been outlined about the spread of the disease in Haiti. These include; if one person is infected then the disease will spread to twenty other people in the area and the other thing is that in every second, a person is infected with TB. This spread of the bacteria infection is mostly caused by overcrowding particularly to people living in shanty towns. These infections can be prevented through the introduction of TB programs that sensitise people on the dangers caused by the disease and to offer medical care since TB drugs are too expensive for Haiti people to buy. In the world’s developing countries, the most essential problem faced is malnutrition. The cause of poverty is due to lack of major essentials such as environmental, social and economic resources meant to better the lives of these individuals. These strive for food has led to famine in the entire country and thus the ICC has introduced programs to assist the people faced with the outbreak. ICC have also trained their nurses for them to offer advisory services to women on the nutritional needs that should be given to children as well as the need for breastfeeding their young ones. Conclusion Apart from nursing programs the other major factor used to address the problem of malnutrition is by monitoring growth and development of infrastructure, child’s growth and ensuring that the right care is given to all. Malnutrition cases can cause major cases in the immune system especially if other infectious diseases are included such as measles or TB. ICC has introduced giving children immunisation to prevent these conditions from occurring. Vitamin A has also been supplied to these children in order to improve disease severity. Sanitation has also been improved, clean water and education on health issues. References Anup, S. (2010). Haiti global issues: Social, political, environmental issues that affect us all. Viewed February 1, 2010, Center of disease control and prevention (CDC), (2009). Public health issues and priorities for Haiti earthquake. Atlanta. Viewed June 9, 2010, Michael, D. (2005). Notes from the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti. New York, Seven Stories Press. Robert, H. (2006). Written in blood: The history of the Haitian people. Lantham, University Press of America. Read More