Health

There is no doubt that children who face natural disasters directly, go through an emotional trauma but those who are far away are also affected because of the wide media coverage and they too suffer emotionally and psychologically. There are some psychological techniques that can be used by help these youngsters throughout the world to cope with the trauma. Here are some of the methods:

• Music: Taking popular music and creating new positive lyrics for them can help. Positive lyrics can help to give a happier state and help kids by motivating them. Children can sing among themselves and boost up their confidence. However, if kids are less verbal, they can use drumming as energy or frustration releasing medium.
• Technology: Teach kids how to use the power of internet to get information on good health and coping with trauma instead of looking for horrible news.
• Physical activities: Trauma is not just mental. It is physical too in form of tensed muscles and clenched teeth. A nice relaxing bubble bath, exercise, yoga, playing, riding etc. can help to release the tension.
• Art: Children express better through their drawings instead of verbal expression. Drawing the traumatic experience on one side of the page and a happy incident on the other side help them to get over their trauma.
• Friends: Talking to friends can help kids because after a traumatic incident children generally fail to talk to their parents. Sharing with friends always help.
• Role-play: Asking children to take actions that should normally be taken in case of an emergency help to tone their muscle memory. So, their actions become more automatic under a real emergency situation. Role-play with friends is more effective.
• Gifts for survivors: Simple gifts for peer-survivors after a tragic incident helps to boost self-esteem. Even simple teddy bears or paper cranes with messages of hope and love can help kids to get out of trauma relatively quickly.

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Since Haiti's petrifying earthquake of 2010, one of the needs Haitians have is for clean drinking water. Many remote rural areas in Haiti do not have direct access to a water source. They must trek many miles over rough terrain to a waterfall or river and haul back whatever they can carry. Even children must perform this task for their family's water needs.

International celebrity and high-fashion designer Giorgio Armani has come forward with the Acqua for Life Campaign (AFLC). He has developed two scents, Acqua di Gio and Acqua di Gioia, whose sales proceeds will go to AFLC. Every flacon sold will mean 100 liters of fresh drinking water for Haitians annually. Armani's mission does not stop there. He is also gifting $500,000 dollars to the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Agency (WASH), operated by the Haiti Relief Organization (HRO).

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Haiti's 7.0 magnitude earthquake, which jolted the country in 2010, left a trail of devastation. Thousands were killed by caved-in structures, and thousands more, maimed and bleeding, lay in the streets. Disaster-aid organizations like Doctors Without Borders performed emergency surgeries. Many hundreds of Haitians in Port-au-Prince fled, escaping images of destruction that were everywhere.

Of those who stayed, they lived in tent communities on the streets, dependent on international aid for food, water, and clothing. But immediate needs for medical attention were not all they had to contend with. The trauma of the earthquake's terrifying power, and its panic-producing aftershocks overwhelmed survivors' psyches and their ability to cope. The psychic damage commonly associated with the Haiti earthquake is known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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In a recent blog post, chronicling the abject state of neglect meted out to living, breathing, suffering Haitians, who have agonizing illnesses and no recourse from the pain, Dr. John A. Carroll reawakened a topic that's long been ignored. As a practicing MD Carroll states that, in his over 30 years of working in the country, not once has he seen the inexpensive, easily obtained and highly effective alleviant morphine ordered.

It's a topic some have given voice to in the wider media; most noticeably, respected Hollywood actor, Sean Penn. After the Haiti earthquake, the actor called on his considerable connections to transport morphine and other IV medications to the victims he'd seen reports of undergoing surgeries and amputations without anesthetics.

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Regardless of what angle you are looking at it, we all can agree there has been great injustice done to the Haitian population with the introduction of the Cholera epidemic in Haiti by the UN. May be some are still ensure on whether or not this illness was a gift from the UN to us. In this case let's analyze the facts. Several independent studies support this claim. The only group so far who would not admit to that is the United Nations themselves.

Suspecting that their claim of not being involved "Ni De Pres or Ni de Loin" with the Cholera outbreak in Haiti, last week, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, rejected a legal claim for compensation filed in 2011 on behalf of cholera victims in Haiti, stating that they were "not receivable" because of the United Nations' has diplomatic immunity.

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The leading attorney for Former Dictator Jean Claude Duvalier, Mr Reynold Georges, told the Press Monday (3-4.2013) that his client was hospitalized for an unspecified illness. This is just after the former Haitian Dictator testified last week in court. Lawyer Reynold Georges put the blame for his current illness to his last court appearance stating that Duvalier was not feeling well before the Thursday court hearing and his doctor had advised him not to testify.

As he was defending his government during his last court hearing, the 61-year-old Jean Claude Duvalier Duvalier looked ill and appeared to have lost weight. He periodically wiped his forehead with a white cloth. If confirmed, this hospitalization would be the second time Duvalier has sought medical treatment in the past two years. Two months after his 2011 return, he was hospitalized due to unspecified chest pains. Some said he has cervical osteoarthritis which a degeneration of the spinal column in the neck area.

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Dr. Florence Guillaume Duperval, Haiti's Minister of Public Health and Population (MPHP), recently received an honorary award from the Kennedy School of Government. She has been chosen as a 2013 Harvard Health Leader. The recognition is seen as an acknowledgement of her creativity in carrying out her duties as MPHP.

The Harvard School of Public Health's Advisory-Board Chairman, Dean Julio Frenck, notified Dr. Duperval in a congratulatory letter of her selection. He wrote Dr. Florence Duperval had been given the honor because of her strong and effective initiatives in administering to Haiti's poorer communities. He extended the Kennedy School of Government's invitation to join the Harvard Ministerial Health Leaders' Forum (HMHLF) in June 2013, its second annual gathering.

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In a recent blog post, chronicling the abject state of neglect meted out to living, breathing, suffering Haitians, who have agonizing illnesses and no recourse from the pain, Dr. John A. Carroll reawakened a topic that's long been ignored. As a practicing MD Carroll states that, in his over 30 years of working in the country, not once has he seen the inexpensive, easily obtained and highly effective alleviant morphine ordered.

It's a topic some have given voice to in the wider media; most noticeably, respected Hollywood actor, Sean Penn. After the Haiti earthquake, the actor called on his considerable connections to transport morphine and other IV medications to the victims he'd seen reports of undergoing surgeries and amputations without anesthetics.

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According to Partners in Health, an organization in healthcare based in the United States, a hospital is expected to open in Haiti in March. The name of the hospital is Mirebalais University Hospital. The hospital is one of its kind and is expected to benefit the people of Haiti greatly.

Construction

Cost of construction of the hospital is around 17 million dollars. It is a national public hospital with around three hundred beds. Construction has been completed and the hospital is due for opening in March.

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In recent years, people have been given information on precautions they must take in order to remain healthy, and prevent infections from developing. For example, lack of good dental health habits can lead to conditions like gingivitis or pyorrhea. It can also affect the rest of the body, creating the conditions for diabetes to develop.

In the area of gynecological health, it has been discovered that wearing underwear when sleeping can affect the health of the vulva, the external female genitalia. This is something that every woman should, my Haitian women in particular.

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