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To amplify the voices of the vulnerable, the marginalized and the excluded. |
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This briefing has been produced with the collaboration and financial support of the Fogarty Center – National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the U.S.A. and the Centres GHESKIO of Haiti in the scope of the project “Building Capacity of Journalists in the Caribbean and Central America to Report on HIV/AIDS: a focus on Haiti.” The project is carried out by the Centre for Communication on AIDS (CECOSIDA) and the Panos Institute.
The provision of care, including access to medical care, is a serious challenge for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Haiti. The reasons for this are particularly related to the economic situation of the country, which suffers from acute unemployment and effects of the contraction of the global economy during the recent years, according to trends and figures published by the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Informatics. Read more ...
Nicole Simeone, Journalist, Haiti
The report of a study by Martine Bernier and Dr. Francoise Ponticq (CRESD/UNIQ)*, funded by Save the Children Canada (SSC) and UNICEF, which was published in April 1999, reveals that the phenomenon of children living in the streets in Haiti has increased with more than 300% since 1991.
The document states that this number has increased due to the growing impoverishment of the country which has led to more urban migration.
During those last five years, it was noted that the number of girls – although on a lower level than that of boys – has increased significantly. For instance in 1991, girls represented a low percentage while in 1999, their percentage was between 20 and 33% of the total number. According to the same document, relationships between children and their parents or family members became weaker.
The children who flee the maltreatment which they suffer, most often take refuge to the streets. Read more ...
It is not an easy thing to solve the problem of deforestation in Haiti, which is directly tied to the earth’s environment. In search of a solution, some people carried out experiments, others invested a lot of money, several organizations were established, all without much results. It is a frustrating subject. In this article, I investigate past and present practices, and provide future perspectives.
Haiti was a green country, wooded during the pre-Columbian period, at the time of its discovery as well as its independence, and until 1908. It was one of the countries in the Americas where one could find good quality timber. People from European countries bought the Haitian wood products. The forests disappeared and nowadays forest cover is extremely low.
Figures for Haiti’s forest cover are hard to come by. There are not many state-owned forests. One year ago, I visited one of these: “Forêt des Pins” (the Forest of the Pines). This forest used to have more than 32 hectares of wooded land. In 1998, according to an expert’s analysis, only 28 hectares were left. A group of agronomists works in the area for the Haitian government. One agronomist stated: “ I don’t believe in the disappearance of the 4 hectares of forest.” Read more ...