Haiti Begins National Vaccine Campaign

The government of Haiti, with the help of United Nations agencies, has initiated a national campaign to provide vaccines against various diseases, including polio and measles. It aims to vaccinate 5,700,000 people.

According to a press release issued by the United Nations on Tuesday, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti cooperated with the government to help the vaccine campaign achieve success. The efforts will cost approximately nine and a half million dollars.

Two types of measles vaccine are to be provided to Haitians from one to nineteen years old, and children four years old or younger will receive a polio vaccination. A tetanus vaccine is to be provided to women who are of childbearing age. The 5.7 million people targeted by the national vaccine campaign consist of fifty-eight percent of the population of Haiti.

U.N. peacekeepers from the Stabilization Mission helped to transport the vaccine equipment and supplies, making sure that they were kept under the proper conditions. The U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti was quoted as saying that the campaign provided a "perfect example" of what can be achieved when U.N. agencies, govt. authorities, peacekeepers, and foreign countries (which provide funding) work together "in close collaboration."

The World Health Organization's page indicates that Haiti's health situation is relatively poor. The chance that children will die before the age of five is 120/1000 (compared to 27/1000 in Mexico, and 21/1000 in Venezuela), and the percentage of child births with a "skilled attendant" is just under 25% (one of the lowest in the world). The likelihood of death between the ages of fifteen and sixty is the highest in the western hemisphere, with Guatemala a somewhat distant 2nd.

According to the CIA World Factbook entry on Haiti, it is a nation of approximately 8.7 million people which has two official languages (French, Creole) and is almost as large as the state of Maryland. It is the poorest country in the entire west hemisphere, with very high unemployment and an average life expectancy of only fifty-seven years.

The factbook also indicates that Haiti's industries include making textiles, refining sugar, and cement production. Most of its exports go to the United States. It was formerly a French colony, but became independent in 1804, much earlier than many other countries. Approximately 8000 United Nations peacekeepers have been deployed there since 2004, after former President Aristide was removed from power (under disputed circumstances).

Sources:

1. United Nations, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24551
2. CIA World Factbook (public domain), https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html
3. World Health Organization, http://www.who.int/countries/hti/en/