Guest, I.

Haiti beyond the headlines
Guest, I. - 1994 - Populi, 21, 10, 12-3

Mots clés : avortement illégal; avortement provoqué; condom; contraception; contraception d'urgence; déterminants; disponibilité de la contraception; éducation au planning familial; facteurs démographiques; fnuap; hôpital; infection vih; infections; infections génitales; maladies; maladies sexuellement transmissibles; maladies virales; méthode contraceptive; méthodes contraceptives; méthodes de barrière; mortalité; mortalité maternelle; nu; organisations; planification familiale; planning familial; politique; politique de population; politique sociale; population; programme; programme planification familiale; programmes de population; qualité des soins; santé; service de santé; sida; soins à l'accouchement
Pays / Régions : Amérique du Nord; Amérique latine; Caraïbe; Haïti; La Caraïbe; Pays en développement

Résumé : Maternal mortality in Haiti is high. 460 women die, on average, per 100,000 deliveries annually; the death rate is over 1200 in Port-au-Prince. This should have won the country more than a brief mention during the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo (September,1994). At that time, UN assistance was limited to humanitarian aid alone. The Cairo Programme of Action asks that policy makers focus on improving standards of reproductive health care for women; Haiti would be an excellent place to begin. Public hospitals are dilapidated and lack supplies. Abortions, which are illegal in Haiti, are performed in backstreet shops by quacks known as "charlatans". The women who survive are usually sterile. According to a recent study, 50% of the teenage clients at a leading Port-au-Prince clinic had had 1 or more abortions. 8% of Haiti's pregnant women are infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Greater than 35% are infected with other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Because of the embargo, Haiti is isolated. Public health services have collapsed. Over 70% of deliveries are performed by midwives in unsanitary conditions, and, when a crisis strikes, there is no fuel to reach the hospital. Family planning could save lives by removing the need for abortions and by preventing the spread of STD and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It would also decrease the birthrate, which, at present, is leading to a population of 13.9 million in the year 2025 in an already impoverished country. Although demand for family planning is increasing, less than 10 % of Haitian women have access to contraceptives. The embargo exempts contraceptives; however, operating through a naval blockade is expensive and inconvenient, and supplies are often interrupted. Due in part to UN Population Fund (UNFPA) messages, condom use is increasing, in spite of its association with loose living and prostitution, and the disapproval of the Catholic Church.

Notes : Inglés/anglais/English, nbsp;Abstract : Popline (http://db.jhuccp.org/popinform/basic.html) - PIP 100636