Health Issues In Haiti Essay

Improved Essays
Haiti faces a number of social and environmental factors that contribute to disease, while facing barriers to treatment, despite efforts to alleviate health issues. Basic latrine is Haiti is socially regarded as odd, although improper sanitation remains a large problem in many areas of the country (Kennedy, 2013). Warm air and the flowing of short rivers are two environmental factors that welcome the breeding of cholera bacteria in Haiti (Jutla, Whitcombe, Hasan, Haley, Akanda, Huq, Colwell, 2014). Because Haiti is the poorest Western hemisphere country, numerous economic barriers arise for citizens trying to achieve healthcare (Urrutia, Merisier, Small, Urrutia, Tinfo, & Walmer, 2012). Fortunately, there is hope for Haitians in addressing health issues. People in Haiti are used to defecating in the open, without much regard for the sanitary risks or consequences (Kennedy, 2013). Cholera has been a prevalent issue in Haiti for many years, along with many other water-borne illnesses (Kennedy, 2013). The worry of contracting one of these disease motivated citizens to install a toilet in their homes, along with the idea that a toilet symbolizes that a house is ready for visitors (Kennedy, 2013). Unfortunately, many people in Haiti do not want to use a toilet in fear of ruining it, and some families might feel pressured to …show more content…
Cholera threatens Haiti as a low income country because there are few locations of sanitary areas with safe water (Jutla, Whitcombe, Hasan, Haley, Akanda, Huq, Colwell, 2014). When water has a higher level of salt, it is easier for cholera bacteria to grow, especially when combined with warmer air temperature (Jutla, Whitcombe, Hasan, Haley, Akanda, Huq, Colwell, 2014). The tropical region of Haiti has increased the chance of bacteria proliferation for many water-borne illnesses such as cholera, causing an epidemic (Jutla, Whitcombe, Hasan, Haley, Akanda, Huq, Colwell,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Haiti Chapter Summary

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages

    American soldiers were sent to reinstate the country’s democratically elected government, and to strip away power from the military junta that had deposed it and ruled for 3 years (pg.3). Politics can affect the health of Haiti. In chapter 1, the hospital refused to treat sick prisoners. Nine soldiers are clearly not even to try to govern 150,000 people in Haiti. The health of the people will not improve with so little of help.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The hordes of the blood thirsty “Possessed” forced the United States military to enforce a complete quarantine of Haiti (Monstro, 13). The people in both stories basically become outcasts, people that nobody cared if they died, if others are not infected by them. The doctors, swearing to the Hippocratic Oath, want to help everyone that they possible can, but outside forces like the government can force them to pack it up and take the loss with the thought that “they’re hoping… it’ll be the end of the disease. It’s spreading too quickly in this heat-… With everybody evacuation, they’re assuming everyone who’s infected is here…or dead already (Outer Rim,…

    • 1678 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Paul Farmer an anthropologist that writes a lot about the current state and history of Haiti claims that aids and tuberculosis are like that of slavery in earlier times. I believe Paul really supported his claim in his article on Haiti. Paul states that the reason why Haiti has high rates of those diseases because Haiti is in such of impoverished state it can't treat those diseases as well a good amount of those diseases outbreak was caused by American or western influence. According to Paul Historically Haiti never had support from other countries and thus always was dependent and under control of some nation, if that was the French during slavery or the USA distributing diseases through tourism and soldiers station on Haiti, but deciding…

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Extreme Poverty In Haiti

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Haiti, the poorest country in the world, with over half of the population living in extreme poverty, is in desperate need of help (“Poverty in Haiti: Aid, Earthquakes, and Imperialism”). The level of poverty in Haiti is so high that it stands out from the other countries in Latin America. Because of extreme poverty, children are often separated from their families and end up living in orphanages. Many Haitians live on the streets with no access to clean water, and do not have the money nor the resources to overcome poverty (“Top 5 Facts about Poverty in Haiti”). Throughout history and today, Haitians have lived in poverty with small chance of being able to provide for themselves and their families, but organizations such as KORE…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Haiti Women Research Paper

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Women in Haiti have a life expectancy of roughly 63 years, which is below the world average life expectancy of 69 years (John Snow Research & Training Insitute). The main contributors to this short life expectancy are financial instability and the lack of health…

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Haiti Health Care Essay

    • 2468 Words
    • 10 Pages

    This essay includes the history, demographics, location and geography, economics, education, government, health care of Haiti that explains the way the nation as a whole works. It focuses on different aspects of the country and how they are trying to improve their health care system. The country realized how much they needed to step up their game after the 2010 earthquake left the whole nation devastated. As a nation the government and the people need to work together in order to create a stronger and modern health care infrastructure. The country needs trained professionals and medical devices to better help the future generations in living a healthier and happier life.…

    • 2468 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction The financing and organization of health care systems differ in different countries. This is for the reason that culture, politics, environment, health, and historical factors highly influence the development and the distribution of health services. Haiti is highly hampered by some of the worst health indicators in the world with the government and the health system facing several challenges, which has resulted in the lack of government capacity to address its numerous public health issues (U.S. Relations With Haiti, 2014). Impaction Vulnerable Populations Problems Health care system in Haiti has huge impacts on vulnerable populations such as the mentally ill, elderly, the poor, and children.…

    • 1965 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Haiti Research Paper

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Have you ever done research on a place that is new to you just to see what it is like before you get there? Maybe did some research just to know about it so you can completely understand the background of the place to discover certain places or things? Well, that is the story of what I did before going to Haiti. Just knowing that you have ethnicity in your bloodline just made me want to engage into learning about the island and culture. The saying goes know your roots and where you come from.…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Poverty In Haiti

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hundreds of years agos Haiti was the first independent nation of the Americas and the first place to abolish slavery. Now it’s one of the poorest country in the world and the poorest in the Americas. There is a lot of children dying because they don’t have any food to eat and there is no free education. To solve those problems, the country has to become communist.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Social vulnerability is when groups in society are at risk because of some of there characteristics. When disasters happen their groups are at risk because they are part of a certain group even though this shouldn’t make them any more vulnerable then anybody else. Different characteristics are class, race, and gender. Some different disasters that happened were the earthquake in Haiti, the Hurricane in New Orleans, and the flood in the Dakotas. The different disasters have different groups that were socially vulnerable.…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Life In Haiti

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages

    I am from Haiti this is the story of my life and how people think I am so “Rich and everything that I have are “handed” to me. When I was in Haiti I was living in the smallest house you could possibly imagine. Life was hard I had to work for everything and I mean work hard some days are better than others. Sometime it could be a great day where my mom come home and she is able to cook us something to eat, but some days when she come home from being gone all day she come home with nothing.…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Social Issues In Haiti

    • 1326 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Poor nutrition, poor sanitation systems and inadequate health services have led to poor health in the country. Haiti’s life expectancy at birth is 63 years for women and 58 years for men. Haiti has one of the highest incidences of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome…

    • 1326 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Essay On Haiti Health Care

    • 1806 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Before the earthquake in 2010, Haiti’s health care system was finally making a step forward. However, the earthquake quickly destroyed the small infrastructure Haiti had. The country lacks sufficient number of trained nurses, doctors, and medical staff. Haiti is trapped in a period of disease, disability, and poverty, (Redmond, n.d.). Although dozens of organizations bring medical relief work over to Haiti, it simply isn’t enough to reinstate the infrastructure of Haiti.…

    • 1806 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    After finding a need, a program should be put in place to ensure that all children in the community receive oral rehydration therapy and thus the therapy would eliminate mortalities caused by diarrhea and diseases such as cholera. According to the World Health Organization (2017), “Diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old, and is responsible for killing around 525 000 children every year.” Phase 2: Epidemiological Assessment – A search to find the underlying cause of the situation should be pinpointed. Causes for children needing oral rehydration would be outbreaks of cholera, bacterial infections caused by consuming contaminated food or water (Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, and Escherichia coli), viral infections (rotavirus, Norwalk virus, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, and viral hepatitis), and parasites (Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, and Cryptosporidium). All factors such as time, place, and population attributes should be taken into consideration and data should be collected regarding any relationships between the dehydration and mortality, morbidity, and disability rates.…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Have you ever thought about the number of people in the world around you? According to Webster’s Dictionary, world population means the whole number of people or inhabitants on the earth. The population of the world is ever growing. Every year our planet population increases by 80 million people on average, at this rate, in 2050, our world population will hit 11 billion(Current World Populations…). Our thriving world population is becoming a threat to society.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays