posted
There's a pretty horrifying cholera outbreak in Haiti now. It's scary...the country was hit with an earthquake and experienced more damage than usual because of inadequate planning and infrastructure, and the nation has been left with poor water management, leaving it ripe for water-born diseases like cholera.
quote:Today, cholera is all but non-existent in developed countries. Not because we're immune. Not because we have access to a miracle drug. It's simply about money. Money, and the will to build public sanitation systems that treat the poor and the wealthy to an equal level of separation between what we drink and what we excrete.
quote:ST.-MARC, Haiti — Inside the courtyard of St. Nicholas Hospital, beyond the gate with the handwritten sign stating “Diarrhea Emergency Only,” lies a grim but unusually orderly scene at the epicenter of this country’s unexpected cholera epidemic.
Scores of children and adults are doubled over or stretched out on every available surface, racked by convulsive stomach disorder or limp with dehydration. Buckets sit by their sides, intravenous solutions drip into their arms. Life hangs in the balance, yet there is a sober, almost eerie calm.
That is why Martila Joseph stood out. On Monday, tears cascaded down her cheeks as she rocked her pink-smocked daughter, who lay all too still in her arms. “I don’t know if my kid will survive,” she wailed while another patient’s wife shushed her.
“You made it to the hospital,” the patient’s wife said. “That means you have saved her.”
I'm working on a proposal looking at heat waves and vulnerable populations in this next century. There is a lot of projections that give me a sinking feeling. These vulnerable populations are increasing. Most of the projections indicate that the largest and most severe problems seem to affect the least likely to help themselves. I'm trying to stay optimistic, but it's hard.
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote: I'm trying to stay optimistic, but it's hard.
I'm afraid that's a very common problem for people involved in climate change research right now. The disconnect between what the best science is predicting and the public responses is chilling.
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posted
I'm actually startled that there is no one posting here. Is this not a problem? A tragedy? Where's the concern? The discussion?
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Hmmm, it's obviously a problem, a tragedy, and concerning. But I guess it's just not very controversial. Maybe people agree on what the problems are in Haiti? *shrug*
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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Agree, most likely, but feel powerless to do much about the situation within the course of their daily lives. Even the most qualified, well-meaning, and well-funded NGOs in Haiti seem to face an uphill battle to get even the simplest things done. Working towards a major infrastructure improvement like sanitation systems in Haiti feels like trying to dig a trench to keep back the tides with a pair of tweezers.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by The White Whale: Most of the projections indicate that the largest and most severe problems seem to affect the least likely to help themselves.
In fairness, isn't that what makes it a problem? If you can fix it easily, it's just an annoyance.
The food production thread alone has plenty of evidence that something as simple as running low on fertilizer is going to cause the deaths of millions and they'll be the world's poorest. But we also know it's not the amount of food. It's the distribution to get it to people.
Disease outbreaks, rising water levels, it's all the same. Some people can afford to fix it and others can't. And if you tried to fix it for them, their greedy governments would just step in and take the resources for themselves.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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