12430: Re: Haiti Healthcare complications

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: NLaleau@aol.com
----------------------------------------

Dear Jean-Marie--I wouldn't jump to conclusions either... the OAS mission
I was
part of had to deal repeatedly with rural conflicts (and some urban) that
arose
due to the death of infants. Family members often took revenge on
neighbors
whom they thought had hired a bocor to cause an infant's death. The bocor
and/or the person who had employed the bocor were often assaulted and
killed. I
don't remember the actual statistics of infant mortality in Haiti, but as
we
all probably know, they are very high. I believe most people would have
pursued
treatment for their sick infants had it been available, but usually it was
not,
thus there were complicated repercussions throughout the society because
of
natural infant deaths. --n. laleau