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CONDITIONS IN HAITI –FACTS
“I was profoundly impacted by the poverty in Haiti and the total lack of the most fundamental medical care and education. Such terrible poverty in a nation so closely situated to the U.S., the richest nation in the world, is unconscionable.” Attorney John Altomare, of Worcester, on his observations of Haiti. |
Infant Mortality Rate – The number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year. The rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.
Source – CIA World Factbook July 2005
Haiti – 74.38 29th worst in the world, worst in the Western Hemisphere
Maternal mortality – Maternal deaths during labor reported per 100,000 births.
Source - UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) 2002
Haiti – 520/100,000 22nd worst in the world, worst in the Western Hemisphere
Probability of not reaching 40
Source – UN 2001
Haiti – 31.6% - 35th worst in the world, worst in the Western Hemisphere
Percent of population using adequate sanitation facilities
Source – UNICEF 2000
Haiti – 28% 11th worst in the world, worst in the Western Hemisphere
Percent of population using improved drinking water sources
Source – UNICEF – 2000
Haiti – 46% 14th worst in the world, worst in the Western Hemisphere
HIV AIDS > Adult prevalence rate by country – An estimate of the percentage of adults (aged15-49) living with HIV/AIDS. The adult prevalence rate is calculated by dividing the estimated number of adults living with HIV/AIDS at year end by the total adult population at year end.
Source - CIA World Factbook June 2007
Haiti – 5.6% 20th worst in the world, worst in the Western Hemisphere
Life expectancy at birth - The average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year, if mortality at each age remains constant in the future. Life expectancy at birth is also a measure of overall quality of life in a country and summarizes the mortality at all ages. It can also be thought of as indicating the potential return on investment in human capital and is necessary for the calculation of various actual measures.
Source – CIA World Factbook June 2007
Haiti – 57.3 years 42nd worst in the world, worst in the Western Hemisphere
Population below the poverty line – National estimates of the percentage of the population lying below the poverty line are based on surveys of sub-groups, with the results weighted by the number of people in each group. Definitions of poverty vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations.
Source - CIA World Factbook June 2007
Haiti – 80% 5th worst in the world, worst in the Western Hemisphere
Unemployment rate – The percent of the labor force that is without jobs.
Source – CIA World Factbook June 2007
Haiti - 67%
| According to Dr. John Mulqueen, “while there is healthcare in Haiti, it is limited to the few who can afford it. In a Haitian hospital patients are expected to pay the doctor, buy medication and medical supplies, and arrange to have their own food brought in. For the average Haitian going to a hospital is a luxury they simply cannot afford. Life in Haiti is bleak.” |
Some of the major findings contained in a 2004 report produced Alarm Bells for Haiti as Report Shows Deepening Poverty, published on www.OneWorld.net include:
Halving Extreme Poverty
- 76 percent of Haitians live on less than US$2 per day, while 55 percent live on less than US$1 per day.
- In 25 years Haiti has not known a single period of lasting economic growth and has sustained a yearly decrease of –2 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2002 the GDP hardly represented 61 percent of its value in 1980.
- Food supply covers only 55 percent of the population and daily food insecurity affects 40 percent of Haitian homes.
- Haiti ranks along with Afghanistan and Somalia as one three countries of the world with the worst daily caloric deficit per inhabitant and 2.4 million Haitians cannot afford the minimum 2,240 daily calories recommended by the World Health Organization.
- The effect is particularly critical on children: 42 percent of those below age 5 are malnourished and easily preventable maladies like malnutrition and diarrhea kill 28 percent and 20 percent of children age 0-5 respectively.
Tuberculosis
The incidence of Tuberculosis is endemic and today is the sixth largest cause of death in Haiti
Education
- More than 21 percent of children ages 6-9 do not go to school at all – they are deemed too young to walk alone the distances of several kilometers to and from school.
- More children ages 10-14 attend school than those 6-9 years of age. Such late entry has negative effects on the system and explains the presence of older-than- school appropriate aged students in primary school.
- There are 4 percent more girls attending school than boys, but they quit school on average twice as early as boys.
- Only 15 percent of teachers meet the academic requirements to teach.
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