P1
For my final project about the health in Haiti, I decided to look at and research about chronic respiratory diseases and how this impacts the population. Just in a time period of one year, over 31,565 hospital admissions and 1763 deaths were recorded here i just children ages five and up. These respiratory diseases affect anyone of any age, although children and women are most likely to get very ill from it due to their bodies not being developed yet and for grown women, the conditions in which they live in. Respiratory diseases accounted for over 30% of all hospitalizations during the study year, and counted for 17% of the deaths. Children ages 6-23 months had the highest percentage of hospitalizations attributable to respiratory diseases (38%) where children ages 36-47 months had the highest population of deaths attributable to respiratory diseases (37%). “Respiratory disease hospitalizations followed a constant season pattern, with the peaks being May, June, October, and December” (Vinekar 2016). Respiratory diseases contributed to more than half of hospitalizations and almost a third of all deaths in children in Haiti younger than five. There has been a lot of effort in trying to combat this disease. Vaccines are the only thing that is said to help prevent this in children. The Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) showed that pneumoniae causes 8-12% of the deaths in Haiti yearly. Studies show that the numbers of reported respiratory diseases were almost double the number than STDS. Groups such as the GEMS are trying to prevent children from getting these diseases by giving them a vaccination right when they are born rather than when they are already exposed to the outside environment. Studies show that the reason respiratory diseases are so high in children and women in Haiti is because of the poverty they have there. Even something as simple as breathing in dust or dirt for long periods of time can cause a chronic respiratory disease.
Even though there are many programs and people out there trying to prevent this, the reason these numbers have not gotten better in the past few years is because of how poor the country is. They are not able to afford the access to the vaccines even though organizations are trying to change this. “A medical surveillance system (MMS) was implemented in Haiti to enable people to better direct health care system”(Gamel 1999). “The strain of bacteria that causes the disease in Haiti is so severe that even vaccinated Americans who come here to help or visit are at a high chance in getting this chronic respiratory disease” (Medline 2003). Because of all of the poverty, poor living conditions, and the inability to produce enough money for vaccines, Haiti is still at a very high risk for this disease and the death tolls are not decreasing.
P2
This chronic respiratory disease is responsible for many deaths in Haiti. Taking on this problem from a public health position means taking are of everyone in Haiti which will add up to be very expensive, in which, they cannot afford. Vaccines and new medical systems such as the MMS have helped decreased these numbers, but not dramatically enough. The poverty, very poor living conditions, and the expense of the vaccines overpower what is already out there to try and help the population of Haiti. Culturally, this disease is so common, that many people tend to be oblivious to this disease and over look it rather than educating themselves and try to prevent it in their children or themselves.
Vinekar, Kavita, et al. “Hospitalizations and Deaths Because of Respiratory and Diarrheal Diseases Among Haitian Children Under Five Years of Age, 2011-2013.” The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Oct. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610905/.
Neuberger, Ami, et al. “Infectious Diseases Seen in a Primary Care Clinic in Leogane, Haiti.” The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1 Jan. 2012, www.ajtmh.org/content/journals/10.4269/ajtmh.2012.11-0426.
“Home – PubMed – NCBI.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/.