Health in Haiti in 2007
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Pan American Health Organisation, released a report “Health in the Americas 2007” in which they exposed the health situation in Haiti. Archivex Haiti is presenting the 18 page report on Haiti and plans to go deeper into the health situation particularly in rural Haiti.
GENERAL CONTEXT AND HEALTH DETERMINANTS
Social, Political, and Economic Determinants In 2004, Haiti—the first black nation and the first country to gain independence in Latin America—celebrated its independence bicentennial.After nearly two centuries of dictatorship and intermittent attempts at democracy beginning in the late 1980s, the country has suffered recurrent periods of political instability.
To summarize political events in the period under review, Jean Bertrand Aristide returned to Haiti in 2001. He again left the
country in February 2004, and in March 2004 a transitional government was installed with the support of the United Nations
Stabilization Mission, paving the way to normalization and efforts to strengthen the country’s institutions and to presidential
and parliamentary elections in February 2006.
The vast majority of Haitians continue to live under precarious conditions, in poverty and marginalization. Haiti is considered
to be the poorest country in the Americas.The country’s unequal income distribution (4% of the population has 66% of the
nation’s wealth, while 10% has practically nothing) forces the poor to turn to nature for survival.Deficient farming practices on
steep terrain have accelerated soil erosion, as the run-off from tropical rains flushes arable land toward the sea, obstructing
urban drainage systems in its wake. Surface water is polluted by ineffective excreta and household waste management.
According to the 2001 Haiti Living Conditions Survey, 55% of the population lives in households that are below the extreme
poverty line of US$ 1 per person per day,and 71%—more than six million people—live below the poverty line of US$ 2 per person
per day. That same survey shows that poverty is far worse in the country’s rural areas and involves 82% of the country’s population.
According to the 2003 General Population and Housing Census, more than 61% of the population aged 10 and older is literate
(53.8% of females and 63.8% of males), a figure that is much higher in urban areas (80.5%) than in rural ones (47.1%).
According to the 2001 Haiti Living Conditions Survey, the gross primary-school enrollment ratio is 120%, a figure that indicates
that many overaged students are still enrolled in primary school.
The net enrollment rate in primary school for children 6–11 years old is 60% nationwide. Slightly more than one of every two children in this age group attends primary school in rural areas, compared with upwards of 7 of every 10 in urban areas. There is
no important difference in net primary enrollment rates for girls and boys.
This is not the case with secondary-school enrollment, where the gross enrollment ratio for girls is 37%, while that for boys is
45%. There is a wide gap in the gross secondary-school enrollment ratios of children from more affluent households (71%)
compared with those from households in the lowest income quintile (23%). The country’s official languages are Creole and
French, but only 10% of the population speaks French, mainly those who have completed secondary schooling.
Access to basic health care is inadequate.
According to the 2005–2010 National Strategic Plan for Health Sector Reform published
in November 2005, less than 40% of the population has access to basic health services in certain departments (among them,
Ouest,Nord, and Nord-Est); 80% seeks care from traditional healers.
For many Haitians, the need to pay before receiving treatment precludes their getting any health care. Some organizations are
promoting the idea of offering free services to increase access to treatment. Health costs (consultations, hospitalization, medical
care, and drug purchases), too, have risen precipitously and can no longer be borne by people of limited means.
Forty-seven percent of the population lacks access to basic health care; 50% lacks access to basic drugs. A medical consultation
that cost 25 Haitian Gourdes (HTG) in the late 1980s now costs 1,200 HTG—48 times more.
Get your PDF copy now or wait for the next post to share more info on the health situation in haiti…!
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