Health

Last week, the mosquito-borne virus was detected in Haiti for the first time. This virus has spread very quickly throughout the Caribbean Nation since. 1,529 cases of this virus have now been confirmed according to Haiti's Health Ministry's spokesman. Most of the victims are from the west department (about 900). This is near the capital of Port-au-Prince, and 300 cases were in northwestern Haiti. The numbers are rising rapidly.

Symptoms

• Headache

• Rash all over the body

• Pain in the joints

Read more →  

When dining out, there are several strategies you can use to keep from overeating, or consuming too many fat- or sugar-ladened calories.

For starters, avoid cream-based soups and opt for lighter-calorie varieties such as broth-based vegetable, chicken, or won-ton, or a cold-based soup like gazpacho. Salads are a great way to eat lightly, and enjoy vegetables in their raw state. Just have the server put the dressing in a ramekin on-the-side. Eschew creamy dressings like Ranch, Caesar, French, and Thousand Island. Go with vinaigrette or oil and vinegar.

Pick entrees containing vegetables like broccoli, green beans, spinach, carrots. Avoid items like Mac and Cheese, Fettuccini al Fredo, and Spaghetti Carbonara, all made with rich cheeses and fatty bacon. Stay away from deep-fried or sautéed foods: calamari, shrimp, and prawns. Instead choose steamed, grilled, or broiled menu items.

Read more →  

Cancer develops either through genetic transference or from the environment. Although there are people, who have a predisposition for developing cancer, research indicates restricting the intake of certain foods can halt, or forestall the formation of a cancerous tumor. Cancer-causing foods are packed with refined sugars, processed carbohydrates, preservatives, and hydrogenated fats. Five types of foods are precursors to cancerous tumors forming. Here are the causes and risks associated with consuming them:

Sugary Drinks. They are sugar-ladened beverages, sodas, and juice drinks. A journal study concluded people, who drink two-plus servings a week, develop an 87% increase for pancreatic cancer, as opposed to those, who do not drink them. Although sugar is not the agent that infects healthy cells, it functions as a food source for cancer cells and tumor development.

Read more →  

We hear about processed foods being bad for you, but what are the reasons for avoiding them? Nine ways processed foods are engineered, and how they affect your brain and body chemistry are discussed below.

1. Public enemy #1, sugar. Processed foods contain sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. Both lack essential nutrients, creating insulin resistance, in which sugar is converted into fat and deposited around the abdomen.

2. Food manufacturers target your appetite centers. Your appetite is drawn to sweets, salts, and fats, the basis for energy and nutrients to live on. Food scientists concoct flavors that over-stimulate your appetite centers, causing you to overeat.

Read more →  

The term 'health food' is a bit of a misnomer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the nutrition labels of food products, has not developed a valid definition to describe health food. Over decades a healthy food movement has evolved, which grew out of the hippie culture of the 1960s. Different descriptors have been added to describe food that is wholesome: healthy, natural, organic, and whole.

A bad dietary habit is the consumption of processed foods. This can range from processed meats and cheeses in deli cases, to pre-packaged dinners and snacks in the refrigerated and frozen food sections. These foods contain high amounts of sugar, salt, and fats, especially trans-fats. Processed foods such as cookies, doughnuts, pastries, cakes contain high fructose corn syrup, another toxic ingredient.

Read more →  

First Lady Sophia Martelly, whose service project is public health, was present for the 2013â€'2014 graduation ceremony of the 3rd Promotion Class of Epidemiologists. Other health officials in attendance were Health and Population Ministry General Director, Dr. Georges Dubuche; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Representative, Dr. Victor Caceres; and Communications Minister, Dr. Rudy Heriveaux. Credit was given to the Department of Epidemiology by Dr. Martial Beneche, President of the 3rd Promotion, for its superb work in preparing the 3rd Promotion for the work ahead of them.

Mrs. Martelly reminded the graduates of the challenges they will face in dealing with the epidemics that plague the population. Most recently an outbreak of Chikungunya has spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean, the first cases reported in Haiti in May 2014. Mrs. Martelly acknowledged that "the recognition of epidemiology as a field of study is relatively new, and yet it is one of the pillars of public health and modern medicine."

Read more →  

President Martelly presided over the launching of the new community care center, located in Arcachon in the commune of Carrefour. The director of the new medical facility is Dr. Raoul Pierre-Louis. Present for the opening ceremonies were Minister of Health, Dr. Florence Guillaume, Carrefour mayor; Jude Machado Pierre; deputy mayor, Elie Blaise; Cuba Ambassador to Haiti, Ricardo Napoles; and B razil Ambassador to Haiti, Jose Luis Machado e Costa.

Martelly praised the accomplishment of the multiple partnership that has priorly built two satellite hospitals in Bon Repos and Beudet, Ary Bardes Hospital.

State-of-the-art Arcachon Hospital is designed to provide health care to 60,000 residents. It is a 61-bed facility, offering standard services in internal medicine; orthopedics; pediatrics; obstetrics/gynecology. Operating rooms for maternity, in-patient/out-patent surgery; pre- and neo-natal care.

Read more →  

A study recently found that one of the most common illnesses among Haitians is Diabetes, with the most prevalent called type 2. The illness is also associated with a variety of others such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetic eye disease.

Diabetes is a highly manageable disease but requires a lot of self-care. The most effective intervention strategy for Diabetes in Haiti, intervene early. There are still many problems facing most Haitians today, and diabetes isn't the least of them.

A merely cursory look at the system of health care still present in the country shows that, because most Haitians have no access to financial support for disabilities and don't collect unemployment, their diseases remain solely their problem. As such, early detection, before a disease like diabetes has progressed and had time to cause great complications, may mean the difference between life and death.

Read more →  

The town of Les Cayes has opened the doors of its modern medical facility, commissioned by the Office of Workers' Compensation Insurance, Sickness, and Maternity (OFATMA). On hand for the opening were President Martelly and First Lady Sophia; Minister of Public Health and Population, Dr. Guillaume; Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Charles Jacques; and OFATMA General Director, Max Saint Albin. Haiti and Taiwan partnered in funding and building the new medical center, so Tsai Chiu Hwang, Taiwan Ambassador to Haiti was also present.

Les Cayes OFATMA Hospital is modeled on two other hospitals in Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince. The facility contains 50 beds, and surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and internal medicine consultation rooms. It also has two operating theatres, sterilization room, maternity wing, emergency room, diagnostic equipment, lab, and pharmacy.

Read more →  

On May 5, 2014, President Martelly, accompanied by his wife Mrs. Sophia Martelly has inaugurated the Community Hospital of Bon Repos and the Haitian Institute of Rehabilitation Gérard Léon. These two new facilities have been built under a tripartite collaboration of three countries, Brazil, Cuba and Haiti. The Community Hospital of Bon Repos has been built on a vast 4,248 square meter area with strict compliance to international quality norms. The Community Hospital of Bon Repos with 52 beds offers four essential medical services: (i) Pediatrics, (ii) Medicine, (iii) Surgery / Orthopedics, and (iv) Obstetrics and Gynecology. There will be doctors available for specialized consultation as well. It is expected that the people living in the surrounding areas of Bon Repos, like, Ganthier, Croix-des-Bouquets, Cabaret, Arcahaie, Fonds Parisien, etc, will be immensely benefited from this modern medical facility.

Read more →