\nThe devastation caused in Haiti by last week’s earthquake seems to have no limit. As governments and international aid groups work to meet\u00a0 basic
\nneeds for food, water, medicine and shelter, others must
\nwork to stave off what could be another awful legacy of this natural
\ndisaster–an acceleration of the HIV and AIDS epidemic among Haitian women.\n<\/p>\n
\nNarrowly focusing on the devastation at hand, without simultaneously addressing
\nunderlying factors which do and will heighten women’s’ vulnerability to HIV in
\nemergencies, will lead to tragic consequences in the long run.\n<\/p>\n
\nEven before the earthquake, rates of HIV infection were
\nalready high in Haiti, accounting for the most serious HIV epidemic in the
\nCaribbean. In addition, women represent 60 percent of the 120,000 people known to be infected with HIV in Haiti.\n<\/p>\n
\nIn this and many other ways, Haiti resembles\u00a0sub-Saharan\u00a0Africa\u00a0much more than it does
\nits Caribbean neighbors.\u00a0The\u00a0small\u00a0island nation\u00a0is one of the
\npoorest in the world. A\u00a0majority of Haitians live on less than
\ntwo dollars a day, and life expectancy hovers around 58 years.
\nThe dislocation and displacement that have resulted from the
\nearthquake create the perfect recipe for an increase in HIV infections.\n<\/p>\n
\nFirst, just as there is insufficient access to food and water, access to HIV care, treatment and prevention has been interrupted or limited. The
\nhealth infrastructure in Haiti, what little there was before, has been decimated. Second, gender inequalities become exacerbated during an emergency and thus women and
\ngirls are at greater risk of exposure to sexual and gender-based violence and
\nexploitation increasing their risk of contracting\u00a0sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nEven in stable times, women and girls are
\nbiologically, socially and economically more at risk than men to contracting
\nHIV and other sexually transmitted infections. In an emergency situation, such as
\nthe one that has engulfed half of Hispaniola, these vulnerabilities are
\namplified. Limited access to
\nhealth services means that something as simple as a condom may not be
\navailable. Where not exposed to
\ndirect violence, the chronic shortage of basic goods often pushes women and
\ngirls into survival behaviors that put them at risk of acquiring HIV. This is
\nespecially true among displaced populations where normal safety nets, including
\naccess to friends and family, are absent.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nDespite the links between emergencies and HIV vulnerability,
\naddressing these risk factors generally is not seen as a priority. Relief
\noperations tend to focus on meeting the basic needs of shelter, water, food and
\npalliative care. There is no doubt that it is difficult to think in the
\nlong-term when there is so much suffering in the "here and now."
\nHowever, not prioritizing HIV and the needs of those living with HIV now is short-sighted and threatens not only to lead to increased disease burdens in the future but to perpetuate the spread of drug-resistant strains of HIV that can more easily transfer from one person
\nto another.\n<\/p>\n
\nWhen an HIV-positive person takes\u00a0anti-retroviral\u00a0drugs it reduces
\nthe amount of virus in their body, making them both healthier and less
\ncontagious. However, if the medication is stopped or taken
\nsporadically,\u00a0the virus is given the opportunity to mutate, able to reproduce itself in the presence of anti-retroviral drugs. If
\ndrug-resistant strains spread in Haiti, it would likely reverse much of
\nthe progress made in the country on HIV to date and significantly compromise the
\ncountry’s ability to control the spread of the disease.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nThe reality is that the money, support and aid pouring into Haiti \nWhile many of these practices are self-evident and are already The devastation caused in Haiti by last week’s earthquake seems to have no limit. As governments and international aid groups work to meet\u00a0 basic needs for food, water, medicine and shelter, others must work to stave off what could be another awful legacy of this natural disaster–an acceleration of the HIV and AIDS epidemic among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4742,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4742"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ncould all be in vain if, once the cities are rebuilt, and lives restored HIV
\nrates are no longer at 2.2 percent but triple that. In working with
\nHaitian people, including those already living with the disease, humanitarian
\norganizations must consider a broader definition of basic needs.\u00a0Food,
\nwater, and shelter are critical.\u00a0
\n<\/span>But these must be supplemented by efforts to provide safe shelter for
\nwomen and girls, offer protection from gender based violence, and dramatically increased access to
\nreproductive health services. The risk of sexual violence should be taken into
\naccount in organizing temporary shelters. In addition, displaced
\nHaitians must be given the opportunity to be active participants in relief
\nefforts, including women in the process of deciding the best ways of meeting their own needs.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nincorporated into the policies of aid agencies and international bodies, the
\npressure to consider these as secondary priorities is tremendous. Even though
\nwe do not see it, Haitian women’s vulnerability to HIV is increasing daily,
\noccurring as it often does, as a backdrop to a natural disaster.\u00a0Aid
\nagencies and the Haitian government must work to meet not only the needs that
\ncan be seen today, but provide for prevention, care and support to reduce the
\ntragedy of tomorrow. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"