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The poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, Haiti has suffered as a result of international intervention for over five hundred years. The damage continues to this day, in the form of desperate poverty and extreme brutality. Some of those at greatest risk are women.

Last year, the medical journal The Lancet estimated that in the year following 2004's armed insurrection against the Haitian government, 8,000 murders and 35,000 acts of sexual assault occurred in the area surrounding the capital Port au Prince alone. More recently, the BBC reported that some UN troops deployed in the distraught nation have been accused of sexual violence against children.

And with Haiti's for-profit healthcare model, the most vulnerable suffer. In the dozens of slums surrounding Port au Prince, women were forced to give birth at home in unsanitary conditions, without the benefit of electricity, latrines or even running water. Until Médecins sans Frontières got involved, that is. MSF opened Jude Anne Hospital one year ago, strategically locating it so the poorest women in the capital city could easily travel there. The hospital offers emergency obstetric care to poor pregnant women, for free. It also offers support for those who have been sexually assaulted, and provides anti-retroviral treatment to deter mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

In the Post Marchan slum, thousands live surrounded by garbage and open sewage
(photo by Isabelle Jeanson for Médecins sans Frontières)

The hospital has just over 50 beds—but hundreds of women seek help there every day. So a fast turnaround is essential. About 4 hours can be devoted per standard birth; women who undergo Caesarean sections can recuperate there for two days. Still, the efforts of the hospital staff greatly increase the odds for women and children in a country where, the MSF points out, there are 523 maternal deaths for every 100,000 childbirths (compared with 20 deaths on average in Western nations).

Jude Anne Hospital saves lives. Many of its patients experience high-risk medical complications where an attempt at home birth would likely kill the mother, or child, or both. Still, even managing to get to the hospital can be a fateful risk. In the slums of Port au Prince, random violence such as shootings and kidnapping are daily occurrences. A lot of the births take place in the hallways or even in the parking lot. As Sarah Senbeto, one midwife working at Jude Anne, told MSF: "Sadly enough, we can only help a small portion of the women in Port au Prince. We can only save those who make it this far."

MSF is on a mission to let the world know the struggles facing the poor women of Haiti. Find out more here.

More entries on: Feminism | Health, Care | Poverty | Sexual Health

March 05, 2007

Open Source Medicine

Posted by shawnsyms at 09:10 AM ET | Comments (0)

I did a double-take when I came across a headline on the Medecins Sans Frontieres website the other day: "Medecins Sans Frontieres welcomes the introduction of a new open-source user-friendly drug combination against malaria." The notion of "open source" is very familiar to me in my day-to-day work as a web-server administrator, conjuring up thoughts of the Linux operating system and free programs such as techie faves PHP and MySQL. Little did I know the concept had resonance in the worlds of healthcare and activism.

Open-source software is that whose actual code is freely available for anyone to use, modify or share, rather than guarded by proprietary methods to preserve a corporation's profits. Its advocates argue that it can be developed and improved more rapidly—and the price tag is nice as well, especially for individuals and non-profits. Now physicians, scientists and activists are taking this model and applying it to the world of pharmaceutical development.

Big Pharma is driven by profit, which means they don't devote adequate resources to combatting the specific diseases that affect the global poor. So a movement is emerging to foster international scientific collaboration on medical development, resulting in the release of drugs that are patent-free, making them dramatically more accessible to those in need. In the case of MSF's announcement, a new anti-malaria formulation has been released that is cheaper and easier to use than the standard treatment—a critical advance against a disease that kills over a million people a year.

Come to think of it, this open-source model reminds me a lot of my earliest involvement in direct-action politics, where many people got together and freely shared ideas in order to accomplish social change. Despite my initial surprise, I guess the idea isn't so unexpected after all.

More entries on: Health, Care

December 03, 2006

Private Care Scare

Posted by Krisztina at 04:17 PM ET | Comments (1)

Is anyone else confused by the recent developments in health care in Vancouver? So all you have to do is open a private care clinic and propose to charge $199 per visit and the province will step in and cover the patient fees? Is this the new way to open hospitals around here? So instead of sitting by and watching the constant slashing of healthcare and closing of care facilities, we'll just open our own centres, threaten to contravene the Health Act and get funding? Is this the only way to tap into B.C.'s 2.15 billion dollar surplus? And what's with the topless woman standing by the ocean on facility's website? I'll feel so good not waiting in line at the overcrowded ER that I'll want to do sun-salutations at Kits Beach?

More entries on: Health, Care

September 05, 2006

Canada continues to fail guest worker

Posted by mason at 12:06 AM ET | Comments (0)

Monday’s Toronto Star carries a Labour Day feature updating the plight of Hermelindo Gutierrez, a Mexican who worked as a seasonal farm worker in Ontario for several years before kidney failure left him dependent on a dialysis machine—an unthinkable expense in Mexico for the working class.

Hermelindo’s story was previously told in the pages of This Magazine thanks to the crafty pen of writer Maria Amuchastegui.

Unfortunately, things haven’t improved much for Hermelindo, save for the fact that his wife is about to give birth to their third child. He has applied for refugee status, but until that is sorted out he remains isolated from his family in Mexico, without much help from either the Mexican or Canadian governments.

If anyone has a kidney to spare, now would be a good time to look into donating it…

More entries on: Health, Care | Human rights | Labour days | THIS matters

August 15, 2006

Found In the K-Hole

Posted by calvin at 06:33 PM ET | Comments (0)

Ketamine: cat tranquilizer, hallucinagenic rave drug, and now, possible remedy for depression. A recent US study reports that initial trials of the drug on treatment resistant depression sufferers show promising results. Lead researcher Dr Carlos Zarate Junior, head of the mood and anxiety disorders programme at NIMH, said: "Within 110 minutes, half of the patients given ketamine showed a 50% decrease in symptoms." Although the dug would need to be modified to block the perceptual effects, the benefit of "having a fast-working drug would mean people could return to work quickly, and it could reduce risk of self-harm or suicide that could happen during the time-lag that occurs with other drugs."

More entries on: Health, Care

July 25, 2006

Safe injection site needs support

Posted by mason at 02:31 PM ET | Comments (0)

In September of 2003, North America’s first safe-injection site opened in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Operated by the local health authority, Insite is allowed to exist thanks to funding and support from all three levels of government. Ottawa’s role includes a three-year exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The success of the facility has been remarkable — it is used by an average of 607 people per day and provides a clean, health-focused location where addicts can inquire about addiction services and health concerns. This has reduced the spread of blood-borne infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C and reduced public injections in the neighbourhood. In its nearly three years of operation there have been 453 overdoses at Insite, but not one has resulted in a fatality.

Despite this excellent record, Insite will be closed this September if federal Health Minister Tony Clement does not renew the exemption allowing it to operate. Certainly, this is a case where voices from the public would help Clement make up his mind. A citizen’s group in Vancouver has created a website with facts about Insite and instructions on how to tell the federal government you are behind the facility.

In addition, you can e-mail the Health Minister at Minister_Ministre@hc-sc.gc.ca. More entries on: Health, Care

THIS MAGAZINE. BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL

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THIS MAGAZINE: BECAUSE EVERTHING IS POLITICAL

March 08, 2007

International Women's Day Special Report: Women's Health in Haiti

March 05, 2007

Open Source Medicine

December 03, 2006

Private Care Scare

September 05, 2006

Canada continues to fail guest worker

August 15, 2006

Found In the K-Hole

July 25, 2006

Safe injection site needs support