Northern Haiti Research Articles

Postpartum contraceptive needs in northern Haiti

Objective To assess the knowledge of, attitudes toward, and practices regarding postpartum contraception among healthcare providers and postpartum women in northern Haiti. Methods Six focus groups were conducted with postpartum patients and 3 were conducted with maternity service providers; a structured questionnaire was then administered to postpartum patients. Results In total, 282 postpartum women were included in the present study: 249 in the survey and 33 in focus groups. Although 97.9% of women expressed a desire for family-planning counseling before discharge from the postpartum ward, only 6.0% of women received such counseling. Most women wanted to space or limit their pregnancies; 79.8% of women, including those with only 1 child, wanted to choose a contraceptive method before discharge. Providers expressed concern for the volume of induced abortions and maternal deaths within the hospital, which many felt could be averted by improving postpartum family planning. However, there was no postpartum contraceptive counseling or method provision in the present setting, and no providers had experience in initiating methods immediately postpartum. Conclusion Efforts to integrate family planning into postpartum care services could help to reduce the unmet need for family planning, and help patients and providers reach their goals.

Spinal Cord Injury in Postearthquake Haiti: Lessons Learned and Future Needs

D C ust before 5 PM on January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, a Caribbean nation that hares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. The epicenter was approxiately 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Port-au-Prince is the ountry’s largest city and is an overcrowded, sprawling urban center with a population efore the earthquake of approximately 3 million people, including the surrounding areas. he earthquake was devastating and more than twice as lethal as any previous magnitude .0 event [1]. Precise totals will never be known, but current United Nations estimates are 50,000-300,000 deaths, which is more than twice that of the atomic bomb dropped on iroshima at the end of World War II [2]. In addition, there were 300,000 injuries and 45,000 buildings were destroyed (Figure 1), which rendered 1.5 million Haitians homeess, most of whom are now living in tent cities [1-3]. Before the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and was anked 149 on the 2009 Human Development Index [4]. The existing health care system as tenuous, and the majority of Haitians did not have access to regular health services. lthough the response from the international community was swift and massive, first esponders were still placed in the unenviable position of having to ration medical care ecause the sheer magnitude of the tragedy outstripped available resources. Some facilities ecided not to treat catastrophic injuries, such as spinal cord injuries (SCI), because of the esource intensive needs of these patients, perceived low survival rates, and “minimal hance of ultimate rehabilitation . . .” [5]. Nevertheless, despite the challenging circumtances, initial efforts led to the stabilization and survival of many individuals with injuries hat would have likely been life-threatening in pre-earthquake Haiti. Before the earthquake, individuals living with severe SCIs were largely nonexistent in aiti. Although the exact number and survival rate before the earthquake is unknown, the eeling among rehabilitation professionals with long-standing involvement in Haiti is that ndividual cases were sporadic and that persons with severe injuries, if they survived the nitial injury and acute period, typically died within the first 1-2 years. This would be onsistent with other developing nations. Under these circumstances, there was little need or expertise in the delivery of care to individuals with SCIs. Likewise, there were no true npatient rehabilitation beds for individuals with SCI. The events of January 12 led to an unprecedented number of SCIs. A preliminary report y Handicap International estimated that there were more than 100 survivors with SCIs [6]. he number is now thought to be closer to 150 despite the fact that most persons with ervical injuries did not survive. The situation was compounded by damage to medical acilities, for example, the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. An undetermined number of ersons with SCIs were transferred to facilities outside Haiti, including the United States. iven that acute care facilities were stretched beyond their capacity, an urgent need arose for atients to be discharged to alternative settings once stabilized. Under these difficult and ire circumstances, 3 organizations established SCI units to address this pressing need: Haiti ospital Appeal (HHA) in Cap-Haitien (northern Haiti), Project Medishare/Univeristy of iami in Port-au-Prince (central Haiti), and St. Boniface Hospital in Fond-des-Blancs southern Haiti). Currently these facilities are caring for approximately 60 individuals with CI. Two authors (A.S.B., M.D.L.) were recently part of an interdisciplinary team from the oronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI) that, in partnership with Team Canada Healing S c

Estimated Prevalence of Sickle Cell in Northern Haiti

The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of sickle hemoglobin in northern Haiti. Sickle cell testing occurred from 2002-2009. Blood samples from 1035 subjects were collected for diagnostic purposes, de-identified, and made available for the study. Bethesda Medical Center and Eben-Ezer Clinic in northern Haiti. Study subjects included prenatal patients, their companions, clinic staff and volunteers. All subjects were Haitian and selected to most closely represent healthy patients present at the clinic. Deidentification of the blood samples precluded the need for informed consent. Each subject was tested for sickle hemoglobin using a standard hemoglobin solubility test and results were recorded as either positive or negative. The estimated prevalence of sickle hemoglobin was 15.1% with a 95% confidence interval of 12.2-18%. These prevalence rates validate the clinical significance of sickle cell disorder, help guide clinical decisions, and suggest the need to develop intervention programs among the people of northern Haiti.

Ethics and Foreign Intervention

Ethics and Foreign Intervention, Deen K. Chatterjee and Don E. Scheid, eds., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. xiii, 301The 1990s saw the gradual, but steady, expansion of the doctrine of humanitarian military intervention in places like northern Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, and Bosnia. This process culminated in the 1999 Kosovo war which saw NATO bomb Serb targets to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians. Ethics and Foreign Intervention uses the Kosovo case as its reference point to dissect the concept of humanitarian military intervention from a moral perspective. Although there are chapters on the legal implications of intervention, most notably the chapters by Tom Farer, Christine Chwaszcza, and Allen Buchanan on intervention and secession, the focus of this edited collection is to apply just war theory to the concept of humanitarian military intervention. George R. Lucas, Jr., even suggests that because the use of force in humanitarian cases is much closer to the use of force in domestic law enforcement than it is to traditional warfare the concepts of jus ad bellum and jus in bello need to be joined by jus ad pacem (or jus ad interventionem).

Moral Agency and Moral Responsibility in Humanitarian Intervention

This paper sets out a preliminary taxonomy of potential collective moral agents in humanitarian intervention, based on six recent cases involving international organisations.The settings for the cases are Northern Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,Haiti, Rwanda, and Kosovo. Attributing moral responsibility to a group actor requires first discovering whether its characteristics are enough like an individual moral agent's to support an analogy. Groups in humanitarian intervention that appear to choose between one course of action and another, and have a clear structure of leadership and a capacity to control their collective activities, meet criteria that characterise individual moral agents. If they can also distinguish between policies using the language of morality we can call them collective moral agents, and hence subject to some moral responsibilities.

The So-called ‘Right’ of Humanitarian Intervention

Humanitarian intervention, a long-standing issue in international legal writing and in state practice, has become a major focus of international legal thinking and military action. Since the early 1990s, there have been new and unexpected elements in the practice of intervention, in its authorization, and in debates about it. Action by outside military forces in several territories — northern Iraq, Somalia, Haiti and Kosovo — has provoked questions about whether there is a right of humanitarian intervention. In addition, the debate on the subject has been spurred by the strong sense that there were crises (most notably, the genocide in Rwanda in 1994) in which the international community should have intervened promptly but failed to do so.

Grégoire contre Christophe : un manuscrit inédit

In this unpublished manuscript, probably from the second half of 1819, Gregoire reaffirmed his complete devotion to the principles of representative democracy, constitutional arrangements for society, and his refusal of excessive spending by governments. In the name of these principles, Gregoire formed a negative judgment on the kingdom of northern Haiti, where the King Cristophe (Henry the First) ruled. At the same time, he rescinded his more favorable (or pragmatic) judgment of the same kingdom of 1815.

Circumstantial evidence for the presence of monk seals in the West Indies

Based on interviews with 93 fishermen in northern Haiti and Jamaica during 1997 an assessment was made of the likelihood that monk seals survive in this region of the West Indies. Fishermen were asked to select marine species known to them from randomly arranged pictures: 22.6 per cent (n = 21) selected monk seals. This number was significantly (P < 0.001) greater than the number who selected control species (walrus, harbour seal, and sea-lion) that they were unlikely to have observed. However, it was not significantly different (n = 19, P > 0.1) from the number who selected manatees, which are known to occur in the region in small numbers. More than 95 per cent of respondents also identified species that are known to occur commonly in the region. Further questioning of the 21 respondents who selected monk seals suggested that 16 (78 per cent) of them had seen at least one in the past 1–2 years. Those fishermen that were able to provide further descriptions gave information about size and colour that was consistent with many of these seals being monk seals. It is possible that the Caribbean monk seal is not extinct.

A research note about military-civilian humanitarianism: more questions than answers.

'Military-civilian humanitarianism'--or the coming together of military forces and civilian aid agencies to deal with the human suffering from complex emergencies--has numerous forms, but disenchantment has resulted from the Somalia and Bosnia syndromes. There is little political will at present, but evidence from the immediate post-Cold War era suggests how multilateral military operations could expand or contract in future to the benefit or peril of war victims. Partly a literature review but more importantly a framework for interpreting recent publications, this essay seeks to move beyond exchanging assertions. There is a contextualisation of recent literature; a definition of military-civilian humanitarianism; a discussion of possible military contributions to humanitarian action; a framework to assess the effectiveness of military-civilian humanitarianism; and a preliminary analysis of experience from northern Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Haiti. Caveat lector: At this point in time, there are still 'more questions than answers'.

The genus Theophrasta (Theophrastaceae). Foliar structures, floral biology and taxonomy

The genus Theophrasta is endemic to the island of Hispaniola. Two species are recognized, viz. T. jussieui and T. americana. T. jussieui is restricted to the central part of northern Haiti, whereas the latter is distributed over most of Hispaniola. Only floral characters have been practically useful to distinguish the species. T. jussieui differs from T. americana primarily by its larger flowers and inflorescences. The two species are considered closely related. An investigation of leaf surface structures and foliar anatomy, particular the sclerenchyma, is presented. Floral biology, including adaptions to sapromyophilous pollination, is described and discussed, and notes on habit, ecology, and pollen morphology are given.

Novelties in Bunchosia (Malpighiaceae)

Bunchosia quaesitor has inflorescences terminating main axes, a characteristic unique to this endemic to southwestern Haiti. Bunchosia pauciflora from northern Haiti was confused by Niedenzu with B. haitiensis Urban & Niedenzu, but B. haitiensis is two-carpellate with a glabrous oyary and connate styles, and B. pauciflora is three-carpellate with a pilose ovary and distinct styles. Bunchosia articulata, endemic to Cuba, is distinguished from its closest relative, B. swartziana Griseb., by its petals with glandular limb margins, basally articulated peduncles, and elliptic leaf blades. Bunchosia macilenta, from Bahia, Brazil, can be divorced from Bunchosia acuminata, another new species from the same region, by its smaller, more meagre inflorescences with fewer flowers and smaller leaves with 4-6 abaxial glands. Bunchosia systyla (Niedenzu) Dobson was originally described as a form of B. fluminensis (Griseb.) Griseb. but is given species status here.

Malnutrition in the mountains of Northern Haiti.

Malnutrition in the mountains of Northern Haiti.

Mechanisms of magmatic assimilation at a marble contact, northern Haiti

The unusually large Meme-Casseus and Bassin assimilation zones surround marble blocks in the 66 m.y.-old, epizonal Terre-Neuve quartz monzonite of northern Haiti. The Meme-Casseus zone, which contains syenodiorite, granodiorite, and minor nepheline syenite, occupies more volume than did the marble block. Therefore, dispersal, as well as addition, of material was required to form the contaminated zones. Mechanisms of addition of material to a magma can include congruent or incongruent melting of wall rock at normal or depressed melting points followed by solution of the melted material, or solution of solid rock by the magma. At the Meme-Casseus zone, minor melting may have occurred, but solution of solid marble was the dominant addition mechanism. Dispersal can take place by diffusion, crystal sinking, or convection, and at Meme-Casseus dispersal was caused largely by convection. The relation of addition to dispersal at the Meme-Casseus assimilation zone suggests that the formation of large assimilation zones is controlled by the mechanism of dispersal of material.

H. A. Wood, "Northern Haiti: Land, land use and settlement. A geographical investigation of the Département du Nord" (Book Review)

H. A. Wood, "Northern Haiti: Land, land use and settlement. A geographical investigation of the Département du Nord" (Book Review)

Magical Practices in Northern Haiti

Magical Practices in Northern Haiti

Peasant Children's Games in Northern Haiti

Peasant Children's Games in Northern Haiti

Acculturation in Northern Haiti

Acculturation in Northern Haiti

Ground-water geology of the Gonaives plain, Haiti

The Gonaives Plain lies in northern Haiti at the head of the Gulf, of Gonaives. Ground water in the plain is used widely for domestic and stock purposes but so far to only a limited extent for irrigation. The future agricultural development of the plain will depend in large measure on the proper utilization of available ground-water supplies for irrigation.The rocks of the region are Upper (?) Cretaceous, Eocene and Oligocene, and Pleistocene and Recent. The structural depression occupied by the Gonaives Plain was formed in post-Miocene time by the dislocation of Oligocene and older rocks along normal faults and by the tilting of the adjacent crustal blocks. The lower parts of the depression contain a Pleistocene and Recent alluvial fill deposited by streams tributary to the plain.The Upper (?) Cretaceous rocks include andesite and basalt lava flows locally intercalated with some beds of tuff and agglomerate. These rocks are generally dense and impervious, but locally small springs rise from fractures and bedding planes or from weathered zones.The Eocene rocks are hard thin-bedded cherty limestones with some beds of massive chalky limestone. Considerable ground water circulates through joints and openings along bedding planes, some of them solutionally enlarged, giving rise to important springs such as Sources Madame Charles. The Sources Madame Charles discharge at the rate of about 110 liters per second. The Oligocene rocks include limestone, shaly limestone, limy sandstone, marl, and shale. The limestone beds contain solution passages and other openings and these may afford capacity for the circulation of ground water, but no springs were observed.The Quaternary alluvial fill of the plain is composed of interbedded lenses of clay, silt, sand, and gravel. These deposits contain a zone of saturation whose upper limit is marked by a water table at a depth from less than 1 m to about 20 m; in most places it is less than 15 m. Where present in the zone of saturation the coarse, well-sorted sand and gravel beds of the alluvium probably will yield moderate to large supplies of water to wells and infiltration galleries. The individual yields of existing wells range from a few liters to about 60 liters per second.The most favorable part of the plain for ground-water prospecting and development lies 5 to 10 km northeast of Gonaives. In this area yields of 10 to 50 liters per second could be obtained from the alluvium in single wells drilled to depths of about 35 to 45 m. Additional information on the yield and physical character of aquifers in the alluvium would be provided by test wells drilled to depths of 40 to 60 m.

Traditional Tales from Northern Haiti

Traditional Tales from Northern Haiti

SEXUAL AND FAMILIAL INSTITUTIONS IN NORTHERN HAITI*

American AnthropologistVolume 44, Issue 4 p. 655-674 Free Access SEXUAL AND FAMILIAL INSTITUTIONS IN NORTHERN HAITI* GEORGE EATON SIMPSON, GEORGE EATON SIMPSON The Pennsylvania State College State College, PennsylvaniaSearch for more papers by this author GEORGE EATON SIMPSON, GEORGE EATON SIMPSON The Pennsylvania State College State College, PennsylvaniaSearch for more papers by this author First published: October‐December 1942 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1942.44.4.02a00080Citations: 10 † An expansion of the paper presented to the American Anthropological Association in December, 1941. The data presented here were obtained on a field trip to Haiti which was made possible by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Social Science Research Council, New York City. I am indebted to M. J. Herskovits, Kingsley Davis, and J. B. Cineas for valuable suggestions and assistance. AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume44, Issue4October‐December 1942Pages 655-674 RelatedInformation