Haiti

Haiti is located on the western third of the island of Hispaniola, with the Dominican Republic next door. Plagued by violence and political upheaval throughout its long history, Haiti today has no end to its problems, and it is easily the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. Assaults on the health and welfare for Haitians come from all directions. The population is 8.3 million (2006 estimate), with a growth rate of 2.3 percent annually. The birth rate is 36.44 per 1,000 people and the death rate at 12.17 per 1,000 people. The migration rate is negative, with minus 1.31 migrants per 1,000.

Haiti has virtually no economy and few exports other than people heading for a better life elsewhere. An estimated 70 percent of the population are unemployed. Per capita income is $390 a year. Most food is imported, and therefore expensive, so the average Haitian lives on subsistence diet of 800 calories a day, based on corn, cassava, millet, rice, fruit, beans, goat, pork, and shellfish. There is a shortage of potable water. Access to clean water is 71 percent, but access to sanitary facilities is only 34 percent, even in the urban areas. Massive deforestation in the mountains along the border with the Dominican Republic has left the country vulnerable to storm flooding, mud slides, and soil erosion.

Life expectancy at birth is 51.89 years for males and 54.6 years for female, with healthy life expectancy 43.5 years for men and 44.1 years for women. Infant mortality is high, with 102 of every 1,000 infants dying before the age of 1, and 117 of every 1,000 children dying [Page 772]before the age of 5. Maternal mortality is equally high, with 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births. Only 24 percent of births are monitored by trained attendants. Sev-enty-eight percent of women receive at least some prenatal care. Only 27 percent have access to birth control.

The rates of HIV/AIDS are among the highest in the hemisphere, with 5.6 percent of the population, or 280,000 people, already infected with the virus. At least 24,000 Haitians have already died of AIDS. Haiti also has the highest per capita incidence of tuberculosis in Latin America. Tuberculosis alone kills 6,000 Haitians each year.

The tropical climate, poor nutrition, and virtually nonexistent sanitation makes Haiti an excellent breeding ground for a wide variety of diseases, including diarrhea, malaria, typhus, rabies, anthrax, Q fever, brucellosis, hookworm, roundworm, schistosomiasis, and leptospirosis. Diabetes, arising from an unbalanced and nutrition-poor diet, is another growing health problem. In 2000, the World Health Organization tallied 161,000 cases of diabetes in Haiti; by 2030, it expects this number to grow to 401,000. Rates of child immunization are very low, with only 43 percent of children protected against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and polio, and only 54 percent receiving measles vaccination. The AIDS and tuberculosis epidemics have created a generation of orphaned children, who become easy prey for child traffickers. Most schools are closed due to ongoing political violence, with only 50 percent of school-aged children enrolled in programs, and less than 2 percent finishing secondary school.

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