Unmet health needs identified by Haitian women as priorities for attention: a qualitative study

Abstract

This 2009 qualitative study investigated Haitian women’s most pressing health needs, barriers to meeting those needs and proposed solutions, and how they thought the community and outside organizations should be involved in addressing their needs. The impetus for the study was to get community input into the development of a Family Health Centre in Leogane, Haiti. Individual interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 52 adult women in six communities surrounding Leogane. The most pressing health needs named by the women were accessible, available and affordable health care, potable water, enough food to eat, improved economy, employment, sanitation and education, including health education. Institutional corruption, lack of infrastructure and social organization, the cost of health care, distance from services and lack of transport as barriers to care were also important themes. The involvement of foreign organizations and local community groups, including grassroots women’s groups who would work in the best interests of other women, were identified as the most effective solutions. Organizations seeking to improve women’s health care in Haiti should develop services and interventions that prioritize community partnership and leadership, foster partnerships with government, and focus on public health needs.

Perceptions of isolation during facility births in Haiti - a qualitative study

“…Based on a review of published qualitative research on maternal health-seeking behavior in Haiti and our own academic training and professional experiences, we developed our question guide and study procedures (see Additional file 2: Question Guide for Focus Groups) [23–25]. The FGDs were held in a private room at our collaborating organizations’ clinics and were conducted in Haitian Creole, recorded, and lasted between sixty and ninety minutes.…”

Reproductive health in the recent disasters of Iran: a management perspective

“…For instance, reproductive health services were not provided for some women who could not leave their children or the elderly alone in the settlements. A number of studies reported that reproductive health services were not available and accessible for the affected people, including the groups with less mobility, such as widows, the elderly, and disabled people [ 9 , 11 , 41 , 42 ]. Developing an active monitoring system to follow the reproductive health status of all affected people in destroyed regions may increase the effectiveness and coverage of reproductive health services and improve people’s well-being after disasters.…”

Equitable realization of the right to health in Haiti: how household data inform health seeking behavior and financial risk protection

“…Urrutia et al (2012) report that Haiti reflects this same trend. For example, pregnant women did not use traditional birth attendants (TBAs) or access facility-based health care services due to cost [12]. The 2008 and 2012 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) also underscore cost as a key factor in deterring women aged 15–49 years from consulting a health care provider when they are sick.…”

“…8Following the earthquake of 2010, international donor funding for the health sector jumped from covering 43% of current health expenditures in 2010 to covering 65% of current health expenditures in 2011 [12]. This additional significant increase in donor funding for the health sector was driven by the devastating earthquake in 2010 and emphasized disaster relief aid.…”