Haiti: A Nation Ravaged by Poverty and Death

Background

The island is the western one-third of Hispaniola between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean just west of the Dominican Republic. In 1492 when Christopher Colombus discovered the island of Hispaniola, it was then inhabited by Spanish settlers who had annihilated the native Taino Amerindians. In the early 17th century France had established a presence on the island of Hispaniola. In 1667 Spain ceded the western one-third of the island which later became known as Haiti. In 1804 after prolonged struggle Haiti became the first black republic to declare its independence. As of February 2004 after the nation had been plagued by extreme poverty and political violence the interim government took office and organized a United Nations Stabilization mission to calm the political upheaval. In May of 2006 Haiti finally elected a president and parliament in hopes of saving the catastrophic island.

Geographic Location of Haiti on the island of Hispaniola. 

The People

An estimated 8, 924,553 people live in Haiti however the population continues to decrease due to the AIDS epidemic. This can result in higher infant, children and adult mortality rates and is one of the main causes of death for the people of Haiti. Blacks make up 95% of the total population while mulatto and white account for the other 5%. The largest age group is between 0-14yrs. and accounts for 41.8% of the entire population.

Despite living in extreme poverty and disease Haitian people are somewhat optimistic have a generally positive outlook on their lives. Over 80% of the people are Roman Catholics and 16% consider themselves Protestant. Over half of the people practice some sort of voodoo ritual as derived from their African slave roots.

Poverty, Disease, Death, and the Economy

Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere with 54% of people living under the poverty line. Two-thirds of Haitians depend on the agricultural sector, mainly small-scale farming and remain vulnerable to natural disasters. A macroeconomic program was set up in 2005 to help the people, high inflation rate and lack infrastructure. Since then Haiti has seen a 3.5% increase in the economic growth which is a step in the right direction however it is not nearly enough.

It is sad enough watching adult’s die of a preventable diseases but watching an innocent child suffer would break anyone’s heart. The most common epidemic and killer to people of all ages is AIDS and with limited medical resources 24,000 people are lost each year. Contaminated food and water are also a leading cause of death because the nation is so poor that people will eat and drink what ever they can find to survive. Hepatitis A and E, typhoid fever and protozoal bacterial infections are all causes of drinking unsafe water contaminated with feces and other harmful chemicals. High death rates are also caused by malaria which is spread through the bite of a mosquito. Once the individual is infected it is only a matter of time before they die. 62 infants out of every 1000 births will die of a disease while the life expectancy is only 57 years old for females and 55 years old for males.

Hope for the Nation

Since the call for independence was granted in 1804, Haiti has always severely struggled with poverty and death. Although organizations have been set up to try to alleviate the problem, people are still dying, starving to death and wilting away in an agony of pain.

Every one deserves a decent quality of life which includes a decent roof over their head, clean drinking water, clean food, and medical attention. These people need our help and I am not just singling out the US but all countries need to assist the government into re-building this nation the right way because they definitely don’t have the resources to do it on their own. Even before the recent natural disaster, the nation was still in a state of turmoil and despair. When you see the raw and real footage of a child saying that she doesn’t remember the last meal she ate, it should be a wake up call that if something doesn’t change soon people will keep dying.

Long political battles have led to blood-soaked streets and dead bodies piling up on top of each other.

A 3-year-old boy dying of AIDS on his dirt floor in the slums of Haiti

An emaciated young boy who waits and prays for food.

Young boy lies dead after he is attacked by violent gangs in the slums of Port-Au-Prince.