Friday, August 18, 2006

by Clarens Renois

LASCAHOBAS, Haiti (AFP): Outside the UN World Food Program warehouse, hungry Haitians form a line and wait for the rations coming to them as victims of tuberculosis or AIDS.

Of the 400 people who every day visit the hospital at Lascahobas, in central Haiti, 60 or 70 make the sick list, which entitles them to receive 1,500 kilocalories in WFP food supplements.

"This UN donation worth a monthly subsidy of 30 to 40 dollars from a US NGO (non-government organization) is what entices the people of Lascahobas, 57 kilometers (35 miles) east of Port-Au-Prince, to take an AIDS test," said nurse Fricelyne Chelot.

No fewer than 300 families with five to seven memembers each benefit from the program launched several years ago by the Partners in Health organization and its Haitian subsidiary "Zanmi lasante" (Friends of Health, in Creole).

"It's necessary to tackle the AIDS problem within the context of poverty," said Wesler Lambert, chief medical officer at the Lascahobas hospital.

"If we want to address the health issue in its totality, we must rely on other factors such as the socio-economic factors," he added.

At the same time, poverty pushes people to despair. In this region of Haiti, when you lack the advantage of a daily food ration, you fall into hopelessness.

Lambert is witness to the gut-wrenching scenes made by Haitians who have to leave the hospital after failing to qualify for food assistance.

He tries to tries to convey the sense of total desolation of these Hatians who often say: "Better to die tomorrow from AIDS than today from hunger."

There is a direct link in Haiti between poverty and abject poverty, and public health, said the doctor who has been urging the government to take stock of the situation and do something about it.

With a population of eight million, Haiti is the poorest of all countries in the Americas. Seventy-six percent of Haitians live on less than two dollars per day and 40 percent of families are malnourished.

The food and health program of the WFP and the US group benefits widows, men and even children.

Around 200 children and teenagers, as well as AIDS orphans are taken under the program's wing, which provides care, nourishment and pays for their education.

"There's a significant health improvement since the arrival of Partners in Health in this part of the country," said nurse Chelot.

But more and more people seek out the center as the poorest become increasingly aware that besides free medical attention, they might also get free meals.

WFP director James Morris believes that any health program worth its salt should provide nutritional support. "Financing an anti-retrovirus campaign without addressing nutrition is a little like spending a fortune to fix a car when you have no money for gas."

"If this program were to fold, tens of thousands of lives would be at risk throughout this region of Haiti," Lambert said.

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