An Examination of Structural Violence in Haiti’s Public Health Care System

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Click here for PowerPoint presentation presented to Sociology/Anthropology Senior Seminar

Ohio Wesleyan offers many opportunities for students to expand their world views and to facilitate personal growth as scholars and moral leaders. Theory-into-Practice grants (TIPITs) are an important investment students have to work to earn and as such, students gain a better appreciation for ethics and research methodology that they can later apply in their careers through their leadership skills. As a sophmore, I applied for a $3,000 research grant under the supervision of Dr. Mary Howard, PhD. We were ecstatic when we found out that our grant had been accepted given the competitive application pool.

During our ten day stay in Haiti, Dr. Howard and I stayed at a home for street boys or Restaveks (child slaves) travelled to four hospitals, two clinics, and one home for children with physical disabilities where we observed various clinical treatments and care. During this time frame, we were able to interview one expert on Haitian religion who happened to be staying at the same hostel for boys, two hospital/clinic administrators who were both heads of surgery, six medical personnel, and roughly twenty patients who were awaiting care.

Perhaps as instructive, or even more so as our original research design, was the time we spent with Dr Charles Jacques in his clinic. There we were able to observe multiple treatments for care of an epidemic of Chikungunya, care of diabetic wounds, cyst removal and various other patients with presenting illnesses. Dr Jacques had been a resident at a hospital in Alabama? for care of wounds. His mentor, Dr.Treadwell, graciously allowed us to attend days of wound care at the General Hospital where so many traumatized individuals were taken after the 2010 earthquake. We learned that in addition to the massive numbers of amputees due to the earthquake, diabetes is a major challenge for care of wounds in Haiti. We were also able to attend a day long conference in which Dr. Treadwell lectured on the basic principles of wound care to the doctors and interns at the General Hospital. His lectures were translated into French which is the language used for higher education as well as most all forms of public media. It is also a great divider between the majority (90-95% of Haitians) and the few French speaking elite who own most of Haiti's wealth.

While in Haiti, I learned that culture and teaching philosophies have a huge impact on medical decisions and in order to bridge the gap between allopathic medicine and cultural stigmas, more research needs to be done to facilitate trust and communication between the two groups. Perhaps my greatest growth as a student in winning this opportunity to put theory into practice was confronting my own perceived prejudice about indigenous healing methods that have adapted to socioeconomically polarized medical environments.

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