For my Masters of Public Health practicum project, I will be
traveling to Arcahaie, Haiti, to help evaluate an in-home water treatment
system. The system is called Gadyen Dlo, literally meaning "Water
Guardian" in Haitian Creole. I will be leaving in a little over one week,
and flying down with my project preceptor, Dr. Chris Buresh, MD,
MPH, FAAP, FAAEM, FACEP, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the
University.
Haiti is located on the western third of the island of Hispaniola,
and is well known for its historical legacies of inequality, corrupt governmental
regimes, and extreme levels of poverty.
Yet, the widespread lack of clean water
is one of its most significant obstacles. According to the WHO/UNICEF
Joint Monitoring Program, only half of Haitians in rural areas have access to
improved drinking water. Lack of access to safe water results in many negative
health outcomes, the most serious of which are waterborne diarrheal diseases,
including cholera. In Haiti (as well as many other developing countries),
these diseases are the leading cause of death among children. After the earthquake in 2010, the cholera
epidemic (brought over by aid workers), caused more than 7,000 deaths.
(This shows the number of people affected by unsafe water globally, and the number of children around the world who die from waterborne diarrheal diseases per day.)
The
Gadyen Dlo program was recently implemented in Arcahaie, and is a chlorine
based treatment and safe storage system which is manufactured, distributed, and
managed locally by Haitians.
The
Community Health Initiative (CHI) Iowa chapter started the project in Arcahaie,
and is the organization I am partnering with for my practicum. CHI Iowa
has a long history of partnering with local communities in Haiti to address the
biological, social, and environmental causes of disease. They are primarily
known around campus for offering University of Iowa medical students the
opportunity to work in rural clinics in Haiti for 1-week sessions.
For my
project, I will be visiting 250 households that have been using the Gadyen Dlo
system since October. I will conduct interviews with residents in
homes who use the system and Gadyen Dlo employees, conduct focus groups with
community women, and test water quality in homes and at the community sources.
I am
extremely excited and a bit nervous for this experience. I do know without a doubt that this will be a
life changing, educational adventure, where I will truly be ‘practicing public
health’ in the real world. I will try to
blog whenever I can, at least posting some pictures if I don’t have time to
write much. I welcome any questions,
comments, or advice on my project or traveling to Haiti. You can email me at: Joanna-krajewski@uiowa.edu if you
prefer not to post a comment.
Finally,
as I am trying to learn as much Haitian Creole as possible over the next few
weeks, I’ll end with one of the most popular Haitian sayings, which describes
pretty accurately this past week as I prepare for my practicum:
