Health
Main article: Health in HaitiHalf of the children in Haiti are unvaccinated; only 40% of the population has access to basic health care. Prior to the 2010 earthquake, nearly half of all Haitian deaths were attributed to HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, meningitis and diarrheal diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Ninety percent of Haiti's children suffer from waterborne diseases and intestinal parasites. HIV infection is found in 2.2% of Haiti's adult population. The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Haiti is more than ten times as high as in the rest of Latin America. Approximately 30,000 people in Haiti suffer each year from malaria.
Most people living in Haiti are at high risk for major infectious diseases. Food or waterborne diseases include bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever; common vectorborne diseases are dengue fever and malaria; water contact diseases include leptospirosis. Roughly 75% of Haitian households lack running water. Unsafe water, along with inadequate housing and unsanitary living conditions, contributes to the high incidence of infectious diseases. There is a chronic shortage of health care personnel, and hospitals lack resources, a situation that became readily apparent after the January 2010 earthquake.
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