Child Delivery - Haiti Observer Blog

Haiti has the highest rates of infant mortality under-five and maternal mortality in the Western hemisphere.

Injuries which account for (66%) are by far the most common cause of death in children aged 1 to 5 year. Over 2,000 Haitian children a year are trafficked to the Dominican Republic, often with the consent of their parents. Several thousands are working as messengers, spies and even soldiers for armed gangs and are subject to abuse and death.

Lack of access to basic health-care services is the next leading cause for Haiti high child mortality rate. Illnesses associated with infant mortality in Haiti include Diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis, respiratory infections and HIV/AIDS.

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Haiti, which suffered a crushing and debilitating earthquake in 2010, needs health-care workers, particularly in maternal and neo-natal care. Statistics reveal mothers during child-birth and neonates suffer 50 times the rate of child-birth mortalities than women in the U.S. Haitian women experience difficult pregnancies with dangerous blood-pressure levels, anemia, and sometimes cholera.

U.S mid-wives have arrived on a mission to bring down the death toll. And what they have found is distressing. The ratio of mid-wives to maternity patients is two for every 33 in labor. Mid-wives often work 24-hour shifts, sometimes for a week. Exhausted, they fall asleep, abandoning their charges. Women, who have already delivered, die from hemorrhaging that does not receive attention because of mid-wives' sleep deprivation. And during early hours of the morning they fear for their security, vulnerable to rapists. As a result they leave their patients alone.

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