Challenges Of Training Health Professionals In Haiti

By Steve Bynum
A woman is comforted by another outside the general hospital in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. A magnitude 5.2 aftershock struck Haiti on Sunday, even as survivors of the previous day’s temblor were sifting through the rubble of their cinderblock homes. The death toll stood at 12, with fears it could rise.
A woman is comforted by another outside the general hospital in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. A magnitude 5.2 aftershock struck Haiti on Sunday, even as survivors of the previous day's temblor were sifting through the rubble of their cinderblock homes. The death toll stood at 12, with fears it could rise. AP Photo
A woman is comforted by another outside the general hospital in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. A magnitude 5.2 aftershock struck Haiti on Sunday, even as survivors of the previous day’s temblor were sifting through the rubble of their cinderblock homes. The death toll stood at 12, with fears it could rise.
A woman is comforted by another outside the general hospital in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. A magnitude 5.2 aftershock struck Haiti on Sunday, even as survivors of the previous day's temblor were sifting through the rubble of their cinderblock homes. The death toll stood at 12, with fears it could rise. AP Photo

Challenges Of Training Health Professionals In Haiti

By Steve Bynum
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Haiti stands “at a crossroads,” according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. The UN is winding down its peacekeeping presence in the country to focus on development efforts. Haiti’s urban and public health infrastructure was ravaged by a 2010 earthquake, and again in by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Besides immediate needs for medical supplies in the aftermath, the island-nation has a shortfall of adequately trained medical professionals. The NGO, EqualHealth, has stepped in to provide training and education to over two thousand doctors, nurses and students. EqualHealth’s founding co-director, Michelle Morse, joins us to talk about her work in Haiti and the concept of social medicine, which combines conventional medical knowledge with awareness of how social and economic conditions impact health. Michelle is in Chicago to speak tonight at the Social Justice International Women’s Speakers’ Series, hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago Social Justice Initiative.