VACCINATE WOMEN AND KIDS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Public health workers plan to vaccinate some 1 million women and children this week around Haiti's impoverished capital after delays exacerbated by food riots and hurricanes, officials said Friday.
The effort marks the second phase of an international goal to immunize 5.6 million Haitian children — more than half the country's population — against diseases like polio, measles and rubella.
Children in neatly pressed uniforms lined up at schools and marketplaces in the Cite Soleil slum to receive injections, drops and tablets.
"This will help the children who can't afford medicine. When they grow up, they won't be frail," said Justin Jean-Erick, a health worker with Medecins du Monde.
When the program began in 2007, more than two-thirds of Haitian infants between 12 and 23 months had not been completely vaccinated, and 11 percent of children had received no immunizations, according to UNICEF.
The campaign was supposed to have ended more than a year ago. But the first round of vaccinations were completed in November because of delays exacerbated by riots over food prices and a string of tropical storm and hurricanes that devastated the island, UNICEF spokeswoman Elisabeth Augustin said.
Children under 5 years of age are being immunized against diphtheria, pertussis and polio. Kids between 1 and 19 years old receive rubella and measles vaccines. Workers also are distributing vitamin A tablets to fight malnutrition in children under 4.
Women between 15 and 49 years of age are being immunized against diphtheria and tetanus.
The distributions in Port-au-Prince and nearby Croix-des-Bouquets are expected to continue through Sunday.
The joint effort by Haitian health authorities, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Pan-American Health Organization and others is aimed at eliminating deadly diseases.
Associated Press writer Evens Sanon contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Election Equipment for Haiti

Haiti: 100 tonnes of UN-facilitated election equipment arrives


UN peacekeepers in Haiti load container with electoral material for the 19 April election
24 March 2009 – The arrival of a massive shipment of election equipment in Haiti has brought the process of legislative polls to a new phase, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) announced today.
Voting booths and associated material for nearly 11,000 voting locations, divided into 12,000 kits, will be distributed throughout the country by the mission, for the election of a third of the Senate, slated to be held on 19 April.

MINUSTAH, which is assisting with security and logistics for the elections has called for the widest possible participation, including people of all political currents, stressed that this is the best way to ensure the credibility and universal acceptance of the results in the impoverished Caribbean country.

The UN mission, set up in 2004 to help re-establish peace after an insurgency forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile, has welcomed the progress made so far in preparing for the vote, including the Provisional Electoral Council’s approval of 33 political parties.

Hurricane Season

GONAÏVES, Haiti, 16 March 2009 – As Haiti braces for another hurricane season, UNICEF Representative in Haiti Annamaria Laurini recently surveyed Gonaïves, the country's third largest city, to evaluate its emergency preparedness. She was accompanied on the visit by UNICEF Emergency Operations Chief Lucia Elmi.

Gonaïves's population of 300,000 had not yet fully recovered from the destruction of 2004's Hurricane Jeanne when the city was hit by a series of devastating storms last year. Despite the recovery efforts of UNICEF and its partners – a third of the city has been repaired – grave concerns remain about the possibility of another catastrophic hurricane season in 2009. We can all keep Haiti in our prayers that this year will be a quite one for this country.

Giving Birth in Haiti

Giving birth is dangerous business for Haiti's poor, who suffer the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere. Some 630 of every 100,000 women died of pregnancy-related causes in 2006 -- more than five times the Latin American and Caribbean average, according to the United Nations.

The problem is heartbreakingly simple: Millions of women either cannot access health care, or cannot afford it.

Haitian health officials made significant strides last year with a program to waive entrance fees -- the equivalent of 25 to 64 cents a day -- for pregnant mothers at public hospitals. But the women must pay for almost everything else, from doctors' gloves and syringes to medicine, food and transportation, said Jacqueline Ramon, a maternity ward nurse at Port-au-Prince's General Hospital.

So many like Aristide still give birth at home, often with untrained midwives who administer traditional care using leaves made into tea, oil, smoke or steams.

"It's never, ever going to work unless we say some things are not meant to be sold, and safe motherhood is one of them," said Dr. Paul Farmer, a Harvard physician. In rural towns where his nonprofit Partners in Health provides free health care, Farmer said the maternal mortality rate is less than one-tenth the national average.

Maternal health is one of the issues the Clinton Global Initiative and U.N. agencies are emphasizing, part of a wider call for increased aid and investment that Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made in a visit to Haiti last week.

For $40 million a year, and likely even less, Farmer said, comprehensive care could be given to all pregnant Haitian women.

The issue is likely to be discussed at a long-delayed international donors conference on Haiti scheduled for April 13-14 in Washington. Haiti faces as much as a $100 million budget shortfall after large-scale emergency spending following four destructive storms in 2008.

Other steps are also needed in this country of nearly 10 million, including preventing unwanted pregnancies and lowering the highest birthrate in the Western Hemisphere -- almost 36 births per 1,000 people.

The situation turned critical last fall when Port-au-Prince's public hospitals went on strike during the fall peak birthing season -- nine months after Carnival.

With mothers forced to turn to a handful of not-for-profits, the cramped, 66-bed Jude Anne maternity hospital run by Doctors Without Borders Holland in central Port-au-Prince became, in the words of obstetrician Dr. Wendy Lai, a "war zone."

Women were giving birth on the floor, in the waiting room, on staircases and in bathrooms. One died before doctors, caught up with other life-threatening emergencies, could attend to her.

"They had nowhere to go," said Lai, a Canadian who previously worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "This has been described as a baby factory. On a normal day, we line them up and catch the babies."

Some things are improving. Doctors Without Borders recently moved to a larger facility after 21/2 years in a building so cramped, doctors could not walk around some patients' beds.

At the old facility in January, women lay in rows, legs open and knees in the air, as professionally trained midwives chatted quietly and watched for signs that birth was imminent. Some of the mothers sang to get through the pain.

Haitian mothers are disproportionately threatened by the disorders of eclampsia and pre-eclampsia, which bring high blood pressure, excess protein and swelling, and can cause seizures, heart failure, brain hemorrhages and death.

Though seen all over the world, the incidents are much higher in Haiti -- 14 in every 2,000 pregnancies compared to a rate of 1 in 2,000 to 3,000 pregnancies in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health.

Because they are caused by pregnancy, the only cure for the disorders is to deliver the baby.

The simple things in life"What a blessing"

I have been thinking allot about the mess our country is in but then I think back to our trip to Haiti and it puts it into perspective.we are struggling to keep up with our daily bills and trying to make sure we have enough for gas or to buy food for our family until the next payday. but I know that all of us probally have food in our fridge or in cupboards right now It may not be what we fill like eating or maybe it wont go perfectly with what we are making but at least we have something.when I was hodling our son I knew what it meant to hold someone starving to death and it just broke my heart. How selfish it was when I would complain about not wanting to eat something that I just did not fill like eating. And all the times I would complain about having to clean my house at least I had a house to clean. or doing my laundry. I should be thankful to have clothes to clean and to wear. we may not have extra for things that will not matter in a year from know but at least we are able to eat and to make sure are kids are taken care off.And we can turn on the faucet and get a drink of water.what a blessing the simple things we take for granted.I truly hope someone can give this counrty some kind of help so the people can have hope someday.

Lets think about this....

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has decided to continue an ill-advised Bush administration policy of deporting illegal Haitian immigrants. Haiti, already desperately poor, was devastated by storms last year. It is hard to see how an influx of up to 30,000 homeless, jobless people — the number of Haitians facing deportation from the United States — would do anything but further destabilize the country as it struggles to recover from what has been called its worst natural disaster in a century.

American advocates for Haitians have joined the Haitian government in pleading for an end to the deportations, arguing that all interests are better served by giving the detainees temporary protected status.

When a political crisis or natural disaster makes repatriation a bad idea, it is far wiser to allow people to stay put rather than be forced home where they will place further strains on local supplies of food, clean water and housing — all of which are perilously scarce in Haiti. The Haitian diaspora can do a lot more for its stricken homeland by sending home what is really needed: money.

Ending deportations of Haitians would also be consistent. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Salvadorans and others whose countries have been hit by war, earthquakes and hurricanes have routinely been granted protected status in 18-month increments.

The strongest argument against doing so is the fear that boatloads of Haitians will take to sea in a deadly gamble. That is a legitimate concern. But the best way to address it is by helping to lessen Haiti’s misery with aid, trade and investment. Haitians living in America can help — but not if they are deported home to a country that is in no condition to accept them.

Former President has renewed love for Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Former President Bill Clinton's love for Haiti and its people was renewed this week as he saw for himself the hope that the country offers despite its grinding poverty, history of political upheavals and other ongoing challenges.

''I have followed Haiti for more than three decades. This is the first time I have really believed that the country has the chance to slip the bounds of poverty, and escape the heritage of oppressive government and misgovernment and abuse of people that have held people down too long,'' Clinton said Tuesday, wrapping up a visit to the Caribbean nation. ``The message I want to send to the rest of the world is what the man in the factory, the factory owner told me today: These people work hard and they work smart...tell the world Haiti is a good place to invest.''

As he walked through a T-shirt factory he helped make possible when he visited Haiti as president in 1995, Clinton was immediately greeted with a crush of applause. Poor factory workers whose earnings depend on how many T-shirts they stitch in a day, stopped their sewing machines and stood to their feet clapping. As he walked past their work station, they rushed to shake his hands.

For the workers, the welcome wasn't just because this was the American president who restored democracy to Haiti when he returned deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1994 following a military coup. He also was the person who had made their jobs possible.

Among those who had joined Clinton on his 1995 visit were representatives of Sara Lee, now Hanes brand. They returned after Clinton left, and created thousands of jobs that still exist today -- 1,500 of them in the factory Clinton toured.

Those jobs have since been further strengthened with the passing of the duty-free HOPE legislation, passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by Clinton's predecessor, former President George W. Bush.

In an exclusive interview with The Miami Herald afterward, Clinton said that while he was moved by the warm reception, it was the fact that the factory was still standing, and Hanes still operating in Haiti, that moved him.

''They wouldn't be there after all the upheavals of the last 13 years, political and natural, if the Haitian people weren't committed to hard work, smart work, to building a more modern future,'' Clinton said.

It is this message Clinton hopes to convey to U.S. companies and others on the world stage as part of an effort launched here this week by the United Nations to help Haiti break the cycle of poverty and instability through job creation.

''From Haiti, we can deliver good news,'' UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said before leaving the Caribbean nation Tuesday. ``Yes, Haiti still remains desperately poor and it has yet to recover fully from last year's destructive hurricanes. Yet we can report what President [René] Préval told us last night during dinner, saying that Haiti is at a turning point.''

Both Clinton and Ban pledged their support in swaying foreign donors and corporations to help Haiti, while also proding Préval and the government to take advantage of the ``limited window of opportunity.''

''I fell in love with it 35 years ago when Hillary and I came here,'' Clinton said. ``I think I understand what it's shortcomings have been but I've always believed most of its problems were not as some people suggested, cultural, mystical, all that sort of stuff.

''I think they were subject to misgovernment,'' he said. ``They were either oppressed or neglected and they never had the benefits of consistently being rewarded for effort in education, in agriculture, in industry, in any area.''

Clinton has pledged to use his Clinton Global Initiative, which meets at the opening of the UN General Assembly in September every year and attracts business people from all around the world and the United States to talk about what he's seen in Haiti. He's also pledged to tout the country's potential -- and needs -- ahead of next month's donor's conference in Washington, D.C.

Haiti is seeking billions of dollars to reduce poverty over the next three years here, but immediately needs $125 million to plug a budget shortfall created after high food and fuel prices last year triggered violent riots and government paralysis. The shocks were then followed by four storms that hit Haiti in rapid succession, killing nearly 800 people and creating nearly $1 billion in damage.

Will a visit help start a change?

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sought to refocus international attention on Haiti with a visit Monday that they hope will lure more aid to keep the impoverished country from sliding back into chaos.

The former U.S. president and the U.N. chief toured Haiti's run-down capital and met with officials struggling with high food prices and the enduring effects of four devastating 2008 storms. The leaders called for more foreign aid and urged Haiti's weak central government to take charge of its own development.

''We are here to mobilize international support ... but at the same time, we expect the Haitian government'' to do its part, Ban told The Associated Press on Monday afternoon.

With both a critical, long-delayed donor's conference in Washington and elections for 12 Senate seats scheduled in April, the International Crisis Group and others have warned that Haiti's leaders must both get billions of dollars in international aid and better manage affairs at home or its short-lived period of political calm will end.

Ban and Clinton met with President Rene Preval at the national palace on Monday evening to discuss storm recovery, environmental repair and economic assistance, including credit for farmers and increasing textile production under the 2006 U.S. trade deal ''HOPE II.''

In a speech, Preval recounted the ''three shocks'' Haiti experienced last year: high oil prices, high food prices and the storms, which he said ruined a prime opportunity to lift Haiti out of poverty.

''We now more than ever need the solidarity of the international community,'' Preval said.

The Haitian president has faced growing criticism for an alleged failure to lead, including not speaking out until nearly a week into last April's food price riots. The unrest led to the ouster of his prime minister, who was not replaced for months because of political bickering.

''Preval said he's providing security, but every day people are being robbed. The country is tired. We're going to make a better choice next time,'' said Femil Ladouceur, a 19-year-old student standing along the motorcade route.

Underscoring that tension, at least 1,000 supporters of ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party shouted outside the national palace during the meeting and held up signs displaying the Creole pun ''Ban Ki-moon, Ban m Titid'' -- ''Give me back Aristide.'' Earlier, hundreds demonstrated near the airport as the dignitaries arrived, waving signs reading, ''Clinton, we need your help.''

Lavalas candidates have all been disqualified from the elections by the government. Some supporters are threatening to hamper voting if they cannot participate.

Ban, Clinton and Haitian-American recording star Wyclef Jean met with university scholarship recipients Monday afternoon to speak about the environmental devastation that has made Haiti prone to deadly tropical storms. Last year, storms killed nearly 800 people and ravaged the struggling nation's economy.

''Haiti was (once on) the richest island in all of the Caribbean ... because of the natural resources, because of what God had put into the land,'' Clinton told the students. ''It can be again, because of the resources in your mind and in your heart.''

Clinton, who visited Haiti as president in 1995 and again in 2003, is popular among Haiti's urban poor because Aristide was returned to power under his watch in 1994.

Lets all pray that there will be some type of change in Haiti,How sad that people in this country where born there and they had no choice in what they would have to endure because of their government.

Help is coming for some School kids

world Bank approves hurricane recovery grant to Haiti
Friday, 06 March 2009
Haiti continues to receive aid for post-hurricane recovery efforts, four months after hurricane winds and rains damaged sections of the country and claimed several lives.

The country was hit by four hurricanes and tropical storms last year.

The World Bank has approved a US$5 million grant to assist Haiti with its post hurricane recovery.

World Bank Director for the Caribbean, Yvonne Tsikata said investing in prevention and preparedness, and improving construction standards will contribute to make Haitian schools more resilient to future natural disasters.

Officials estimate that 964 schools were seriously damaged in the 2008 hurricane season, affecting more than 200,000 children.

The World Bank said the Emergency School Reconstruction Project will contribute to rebuilding and refurbishing an estimated 15 public primary schools.

It will also reduce the vulnerability of educational infrastructure through the use of enhanced construction standards.

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season begins in June.

Former US President visit Haiti..Maybe there is some hope!

UN chief to visit Haiti next week
www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-03 11:28:25 Print
MEXICO CITY, March 2 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to make an official visit to Haiti next week, hoping to encourage international assistance to the Caribbean country, local reports said on Monday.

Ban will visit Haiti from March 9 to 10 in company with former US president Bill Clinton, creator of charity organization Clinton Global Initiative, according to Alain Le Roy, chief of United Nations peacekeeping operations.

It is the right time to increase aid to Haiti as security in the country has improved under the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Haitian media quoted Roy as saying.

The MINUSTAH's international police chief in Haiti, Mamadou Diallo, said Friday that thanks to the UN peacekeeping mission, social security has risen to "an acceptable level."

"Once lawless neighborhoods that were occupied by armed groups are today accessible to everyone", he said, adding that crimes like kidnapping has also been under control.

Haitian media also confirmed that a delegation of UN Security Council, led by Jorge Urbina, Costa Rica's ambassador to the United Nations will arrive in Port-au-Prince on March 11 for a two-day visit.

The MINUSTAH mission started on June 1, 2004, after a riot in Haiti provoked by high food prices.