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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Min Qi Wang, PhD, Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, Suite 2387 Valley Drive, College Park, MD 20742, 301-405-6652, mqw@umd.edu, Britt C. Reid, DDS, PhD, Department of Health Promotion and Policy, University of Maryland, School of Dentistry, 666 West Baltimore Street, Room 3A-08, Baltimore, MD 21201, Bette Gebrian, MPH PhD, Haitian Health Foundation, Haitian Health Foundation, Jeremie, Haiti, and Walter J. Psoter, DDS, PhD, Dept. Epidemiology & Health Promotion, New York University College of Dentistry, MC: 9416, 433 First Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of an international embargo and the effect on preventive services provided by the Haitian Health Foundation (HHF) on protein-energy malnutrition and all-cause infant mortality.

Methods: Rates of mortality and severe malnutrition were assessed by calendar year both graphically and by chi-square tests. Longitudinal anthropomorphic records (weight for age) from the HHF computerized database on 1,795 children aged 0 through 60 months old were utilized for the years 1988 through 1996 and converted to z-scores based on the National Center for Health Statistics data as the reference database. Three levels of nutritional sufficiency were created for this study based upon these z-scores.

Results: Access to basic preventive public health services among Haitian children between the ages of one to 60 months to HHF services coincided with reduced mortality, a subsequent international embargo of Haiti coincided with an increased mortality, and with the ending of the trade embargo HHF services again reduced mortality during the years of 1988 through 1996. A similar pattern was observed for levels of severe malnutrition.

Conclusion: An international embargo against Haiti between 1992-4 coincided with changes in the rates of mortality and severe malnutrition among infants and toddlers. This effect despite on-going support for HHF preventive services, suggest that while basic preventive measures can improve infant survivability, these public health activities require a stable economic infrastructure to achieve a maximum benefit.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Recognize the effect of an international embargo on preventive public health services .
• Assess the malnutrition outcome of children associated with international embargo

Keywords: Nutrition, International Public Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered