12499: Speech by George Alleyne, Director of PAHO to Haitian government (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

George A. O. Alleyne
Director, PAHO
2 July 2002


SOLIDARITY WITH HAITI AND THE HAITIAN PEOPLE
 (Port-au-Prince, Haiti)**


Mr. President
Members of Government
Other distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen

First let me express my deep appreciation to you Mr. President for this honor
and distinction you have conferred on me. I wish to believe that it is not to
me personally, but to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that has
been so closely related to Haiti throughout most of its history. In the
critical moments in our history, Haiti has always been present and indeed,
Haiti was one of the signatories of the Sanitary Code that is the legal basis
for our Organization. We are told that on that historic occasion in 1924 your
representative captured the essence of what has become our organization when
he said:

"...from this meeting will surely come the greatest good for the prosperity
of the Nations of the New World. What is, actually, the goal of these types
of Assemblies? It is to reduce the maladies to which Humanity is exposed, to
limit their spread and virulence, to increase the birth rate, to postpone the
fatal end of life as long as possible, and thus, make the Nations prosperous
and strong."

This is the year PAHO is celebrating its centennial and we have had much
cause to reflect on the situation of health in our Region, how it has evolved
over the past 100 years, and the role we have played. You will understand and
appreciate our enthusiasm for celebrating 100 years of existence, as I know
that you are making preparations for marking your 200 years of independence
in a couple years.

But Mr. President before I comment on our institutional links and
responsibilities that translate into solidarity with Haiti and the Haitian
people, allow me to be personal and express my admiration for what the
Haitian people stand for and what you have done. We who come from this part
of the world, have had it burned into our minds from childhood the debt we
owe the Haitian people who lit the torch of independence that may have
flickered but always shone brightly for us in the Caribbean. We were taught
of the links with Grenada, the country of birth of Henri Christophe, and I
have been told of the Caribbean men who came here to shed their blood in the
struggle for freedom, Those patriots who began the struggle this very month
of August just over 200 years ago must have been acutely aware of the
principles and ideals that are now the common currency of democracy.

Many of us dream that Haiti will recapture that spirit of cohesive action to
affront the multiple problems that are now the source of your delayed
development. Many of us dream that in the search for things that may unite
Haitians, we will not have to look for the external scourge of oppression and
human indignity that characterized the struggle of almost 200 years ago. Many
of us like myself, believe that there are issues around which there can be
unity of effort and purpose and whose importance rival the problems of 200
years ago.

Mr. President, whenever my thoughts return to this place as they often do, I
recall our agreement of the critical importance of the health of the Haitian
people, and that the efforts to improve that health might be the spark for
the understanding and concurrence that we need today. I recall our discussion
of the appropriate technical cooperation in health.

It is no secret that the health indicators of Haiti are among the most
alarming in the Region of the Americas. Infant mortality rates are the
highest, maternal mortality rates are the highest and life expectancy at
birth is the lowest.  But there is no doubt that this situation has been
caused in great measure by human action, or inaction, and, therefore, can be
corrected by human action. There is no cause intrinsic to the biology of the
Haitian people that makes for this situation. There is no Haitian gene for
poverty or ill health. The tools for the correction of this situation are
available.

Over the course of our 100 years we have seen the development of the tools
and technology of public health that in other countries have resulted in the
improvement of the health of their people. We have seen in the Americas the
disappearance of the great scourges and epidemics that shortened life or made
it miserable 100 years ago. We are seeing new technologies and new advances
in the science of genetics, unlocking the very mysteries of life and offering
up vistas of a new world in which there will be less illness and suffering.
And you will ask whether these new vistas will be open to Haiti or whether
your people will continue to be disadvantaged in terms of health. I say no,
and I say no not because I am an incurable optimist, but because there is
evidence of what you can achieve when the circumstances are right.

When I was here last year I was privileged to hear firsthand of the success
you had achieved in the immunization campaign?how in the face of almost
insuperable odds you had achieved a vaccination coverage against
poliomyelitis of over 95%. During the past year you have shown that you can
put a halt to the scourge of measles. The most recent cases of poliomyelitis
and measles in the country were reported in July and September 2001,
respectively. And let me congratulate you on the joint vaccination program
you have carried out with the Dominican Republic. Over the past decade you
have shown that your life expectancy at birth is rising?slowly, but it is
rising. I cite these to show what you can achieve. I know that the Cassandras
will point out that the problem of HIV/AIDS is a huge one. I know of the
problem of tuberculosis, but my knowledge of these problems only spurs me and
my Organization on to find means of helping to alleviate these and similar
problems that are soluble with the technologies and knowledge that is
available. Haiti is among the first cohort of countries to receive assistance
from the Global health Fund to combat the spread and devastation of HIV/AIDS.

But our zeal for assistance is, and will always be, directed towards actions
that seek to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Health to exercise
what are its essential functions. As a matter of principle we reject the idea
of working outside the ambit of the plans that have been drawn up by the
Ministry of Health, and if we did not follow that as a principle and
practice, we would do so anyway because of the respect I have for your
Minister of Health.

What is the nature of this technical cooperation of the Pan American Health
Organization that we offer to Haiti? We stress again that we work with, and
not instead of the Ministry of Health. We have a range of programs and
projects within our technical cooperation, but I wish to stress one in
particular which is of particular interest to me. I refer to the reduction of
maternal mortality that is at levels higher than in any other country of the
Americas. Maternal mortality here is at least 100 times higher than in the
country of the Americas with the best data. About one mother dies for every
200 children born. This has to be an insult to all of us who work in health
in the Americas and not only to the Haitian people. This is a manifestation
of the deficiencies in the health services that are so central to the concern
of the Minister of Health and his colleagues.

PAHO has therefore decided to spearhead an intensive effort in six of your
districts to remedy this situation. I am pleased to report the degree of
collaboration that is being developed around this initiative from our sister
agency, UNICEF, the IDB, and other multilateral and bilateral organizations.
We have focused on this area as an entry point to more generalized
strengthening of the health services, and we are actively supporting
technical cooperation among countries that should also provide support to
Haiti.  But I believe, and have said, that if we really believe in the
principle of Panamericanism that is at the heart and soul of our intercountry
and multi?country efforts it should be possible to convince other countries
of the Americas to help in this and with other health problems.  I would also
like to mention that the private sector has an equally key role to play in
this effort. We will continue to argue that it is a part of our collective
responsibility to try to assist in improving health in Haiti.

We fix on health as the focus of our efforts because we are a health
organization and have a constitutional responsibility to assist the countries
of the Americas to improve their health status. But in addition to our
unshakable conviction of the intrinsic value of health, we are also convinced
that health is one of the essential instruments for the genuine human
development of any people. Health has to be seen as a lever for raising
people from poverty and preventing its transference across generations. All
people wish to enjoy the best that life has to offer ? all people wish to be
able to use to the fullest their essential capabilities. Without health, none
of this is possible and that is also why we insist that the health of the
people has to be the concern of all the people, and the unnecessary death of
a child or mother is an affront to all of us and not just of one or other
group or persuasion.

Mr. President, let me thank you again, both personally and in the name of the
Pan American Health Organization. This recognition is a source of pride and
gratitude, but even more importantly, it is a stimulus for all of us, those
who are here physically and the thousands others who are here in spirit to
continue to argue for attention to the health of the Haitian people. It is a
stimulus for us to work even more assiduously with your officials to make our
technical cooperation as efficient and effective as is humanly possible.

I wish you well and ask you to count on us now and for at least another
century.