Haiti: Struggles and Resilience Amidst Adversity

Haiti is a Caribbean country with a population of about 10.32 million people. This low- income country is the poorest in the western hemisphere. This country is handicapped by problems such as deforestation and only bearing 3% of its land forested. In the midst of natural disasters many portions of the environment and population become compromised. In Haiti almost 97% of the “working class” make up the agricultural and informal sector. In August of 2008 Haiti was impacted by four hurricanes, greatly damaging the countries heath, well-being, infrastructure and economic production. The hurricanes took the gross domestic product from a 3.7% to 1.3%.

Haiti collected more than one billion dollars in debt from 1970 until about 2004. In response to the debt crisis, weakened terms of trade and economic calm in the early 1980s, the World Back and the International Monetary Fund grew structural arrangement orders of business in developing counties. Short-term measures in

Haiti made allowance for minimization of tariffs and import controls, major cuts in government expenditures on health and education and wage restraint. The Structural adjustment programs resulted in major strikes, in a big way negative on the social and health regions in developing countries. In Haiti between 1980 and 1990 food and agricultural production brought down the values of agricultural exports declined and real wages lowered by 50%.
During 1998 the Inter-American Development Bank and the Haitian government endorsed a 22.5 million loan for the beginning phase of a project to seperate and recognize the Haitian healthcare system. The healthcare system was overdue for renovation. For every ten thousand Haitians there were 2.4 doctors and one nurse. Forty percent for the Haitian population was without contact of primary healthcare. Tuberculosis and HIV rates throughout this time were the most in the western hemisphere. This Inter-American Development bank proposition was set out to help 80% of the population. It would spotlight on the construction of local clinics, training community health agents and purchasing medial equipment and essential medicine. As of May 2002 the loan had not been handed out and in the following years of a Republican-held government the Bush Administration (2000-2008) utilized its authority to veto a series of formally endorsed loans taken from the Inter-American Development Bank for clean water, education and health care allegedly for the country’s inadequacy to meet adjusted terms. The loans were collected to more than 500 million dollars. In 1996 the World Bank and International Monetary Fund made the Highly indebted poor counties initiative for reducing debt burden to sustainable levels for qualified countries under the creditor-agreed framework of Multilateral debt relief initiative. November 2006 Haiti shifted to the 30th country to become very much indebted poor countries decision point under which the country fit for the net debt relief of 140.3 million dollars, a 15% reduction in total debt. Beginning in 2009 Haiti formed compelling progress and provided the means for 11 out of 15 provisions and in the end was certified to have finished. Later in June of 2009 Haiti was awarded about 1.2 billion dollars of debt support from the Highly Indebted Poor Counties Initiative. The debt help came about in the granted freedom of about 4 million dollars that demanded a payment monthly in order to serve the debt. Although the tremendous debt retraction the country still remained in debt to the World Bank, the sum being about 38 million dollars. In April of 2009 when brought up at the Haiti donor conference the United States Secretary of state, Hilary Clinton promised 20 million dollars to aid Haiti in assembling its eminent yearly obligation in debt reimbursement.
In January 2010 Haiti was impacted again by one of the worst earthquakes in history.

The magnitude was measured at a 7.3. There were about 220,000 casualties and 300,000 injured. The economic infliction generated about eight billion dollars worth of loss and destruction, estimated to be greater than 120% of the countries 2009 gross domestic product. Many were forced to sleep in harsh living condition leaving them open for more problems. Haiti had problems surrounding Tuberculosis and HIV before the earthquake. After many damaged hospitals, loss of medical staff, and loss of proper heath instruments, heath problems began to worsen.

On January 21, 2010 after the earthquake the World Bank stated that “ due to crisis caused by the earthquake, we are waving any payments on this debt for the next five years and at the same time we are working to find a way forward to cancel the remaining debt. It is against this historical, political and social-economic backdrop that Haiti has struggled with health and

development.”
The Red Cross put in motion a way to help those devastated by the earthquake. They campaigned for Americans to text and donate money for disaster relief. The project called LAMIKE (A Better Life in My Neighborhood) was focused on building permanent homes. The Red Cross brought in close to a half a billion dollars from donations. The Red Cross shared that it had administered homes to over 130,000 people. When researched only six permanent homes where built. The Red Cross would not show in detail how the hundreds of millions of dollars that were donated fro Haiti’s disaster relief was put to use. Unfortunately reports reveal that less money was obtained to those in need than said by the American Red Cross. Five years after the earthquake that devastated Haiti and billions of dollars later many are still living in poverty that was caused by the earthquake. More than 85,000 people are still subjected to live in savage displacement camps and other in unbearable conditions. Most of the 1.5 millions who were forced into camps from the earthquake have now been relocated and are still not in permanent homes. More then 200,000 people are located in slums also known as Canaan-Jerusalem. Here they live in wooden and/or tin house and most are without running water, electricity and sanitation. In the rebuilding process many destroyed roads have been rebuilt. The Red Cross responded to the allegations of the funds raised for Haiti relief by saying, “ It is particularly disappointing to see out work misrepresented, considering we answered more than one hundred questions in writing and provided an interview with the head of out international programs … Despite the most challenging conditions, including changes in government, lack of land for housing, and civil unrest, out hardworking staff – 90 percent of whom are Haitians – continue to meet the ling-term needs of Haitian people. While the pace of progress is never as fast as we could like, Haiti is better off today than it was five years ago. When we could not secure land to provide new housing, we focused on safe housing with a wide spectrum of choices, not one-size fits all plan (rental subsidies, repairs and retrofitting of existing homes, as well as teaching people how to repair their homes.”