Posted on in Uncategorized

Where is the Caribbean…in the press?

The more news I read, the more I’m convinced that the Caribbean is badly missing from major presses. Recently, the BBC decided to close its Caribbean bureau. This is sad news not only to those across the Caribbean region but to people of caribbean decent living in the United Kingdom, the United States and indeed across the world. I enjoyed listening to BBC Caribbean Magazine or BBC Caribbean Report on radio stations from the Virgin Islands or Dominica. It is a shame that such esteemed reporting will no longer be with us.

 

Image courtesy Hard Beat Communications.

As someone with deep interest in what goes on in the region, as well as with particular interest in public heath and health policy and communication, I often wonder where will I get credible news. Many newspapers across the region seem content to post news releases from government officials or to grab news off the presses rather than to do their own investigative journalism. Additionally, if a newspaper ventures into investigative reporting, the focus is much more on the negative consequences for those involved than on how best to learn from what we read and/or see.

I find it quite disconcerting that I am unable to find more credible health reporting across the region. And that something like the dengue outbreak, cholera or World AIDS Day seems to be the only time worth saying anything. Newspapers needs to stop making governments and policy makers drive the agenda for their stories. This is a disservice to the public. I remembered vividly my time at London School of Economics and our discussions on the importance of the media in the public sphere. We often discussed the role of the media, particularly newspapers and radio, in informing and educating the public. I’ve been a part of situations where radio reporters simply grab whatever is reported on in the newspapers for the day or replay word for word a press conference and call it news. More definitely needs to be done to have an educated public and to drive public discourse.

Posted on in Uncategorized

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day across the United States. NAID took a moment–and we all should–to highlight the great disparity that exists between African Americans and other races/ethnicities in HIV and AIDS incidences. African American women are disproportionately burdened by the disease. And, the American South, where many Blacks live, the HIV epidemic is taking a toll on many young people.

This year’s theme is “It’s takes a village to fight HIV/AIDS”. Caribbean Americans know that it takes a village to overcome many challenges. I hoped every Black person in the United States t0ok some time today to consider the impact of HIV in their life and the lives of those they love. Although there is a separate HIV/AIDS awareness day specifically for those from the Caribbean region (June 8th), we are counted among the many Black Americans afflicted.

In fact, a recent epidemiological study showed that there is also disparity between foreign born and native born Blacks. Johnson et al. (2010) came to the conclusion that the epidemiology of HIV infection differs for the two groups; and that almost 12% of of Blacks diagnosed with HIV infection between 2001 and 2007 were foreign-born:

“Of these, 11.7% were foreign-born, with most from the Caribbean (54.1%) and Africa (41.5%). Annual HIV diagnoses decreased by 5.5% per year (95% confidence interval [CI] –5.9, –5.0) among native-born black people. Decreases were small among foreign-born black people (–1.3%; 95% CI –2.6, –0.1), who were more likely to be female, have HIV infection attributable to high-risk heterosexual contact, be diagnosed with AIDS within 12 months of HIV diagnosis, and survive one year and three years after an AIDS diagnosis.“

Whether its Blacks AIDS Awareness Day or Caribbean AIDS Awareness Day, we all need to participate and do our part in turn this epidemic around.

If you’re in the U.S, here is some information on where to go for information?

  • Do you know your status? If not, text your zipcode to 566948 (“KNOWIT”) to find and HIV testing site near you or go to HIVtest.org.
  • You can also call 1-800-CDC-INFORMATION for more information and testing sites in your area.
  • Visit www.aids.gov for Federal resources, events in your area and tools to commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

 

Posted on in Uncategorized

Despite gains in reducing infant mortality, many countries lag behind

Leading the news this week on Harvard’s World Health News (WHN) website is the dire infant mortality crisis facing Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The article is available here and more information on confronting the infant mortality crisis are available here. The headline reminded me of a similar story in the New York Times more than a year ago. (After a little digging, I realized the NYT article also addressed infant mortality in the same community, as well as the many interventions to decrease the rates.)

The article from Harvard’s WHN, available at Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel, drew comparisons to the infant mortality crisis globally and noted that:

“In Milwaukee, the infant mortality rate for all children, regardless of race, exceeds that of Uruguay, Bosnia or Kuwait.”

And again, like many other aspects of health across the United States, there is great disparity between Blacks and Whites. The article goes on to say that:

“In 2008, the infant mortality rate for whites was 5.9 per 1,000 births. It was 13.8 for blacks. That means that in Wisconsin, black infants die during their first year of life at more than twice the rate of white infants. It is worse than Romania. It is among the worst in the nation.“

This article led me to seek out infant mortality rates for the Caribbean region, seeing that Target 4A for the Mellenium Development Goals is to reduce under-5 mortality rates by 2015.

According to UNICEF, many regional countries have met or exceeded their goals, including Dominica, Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis. The full report is available here. Countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia are on pace to meet their goals. However, the reported cited Jamaica and Haiti as two countries lagging behind. In fact, the report said that Haiti is the only country in the region with infant mortality greater than 1 in 10; while Jamaica was the only country in the region to not report a drop in under five mortality rate during the 1990’s.

Now, I understand that much has changed since the compiling of the data, and where possible I will attempt to get updated data. As of 2004, the last year available for the UNICEF Child Survival Report Card, the annual rate of reduction slowed in the 1990’s after increasing sharply from the 1960’s through the 1980’s.

_______

We as a region face many challenges. And there are varying social, economic, historical,  cultural, biological and possibly political reasons for high and or/low infant mortality rates. My attempt is not draw conclusions on why one country experienced a drop and another did not. I also do not attempt to draw comparison between Milwaukee and the Caribbean, but instead, I wanted to use it as a starting point for further discussion. My hope is that someone who wants to study child mortality rates in the Caribbean or elsewhere can build on what I’ve given here. Even though many countries in the Caribbean experience a decline in infant mortality rates, I am interested in knowing whether any disparities exist between majority and minority populations in certain countries, for example, between people of African decent and Indigenous groups in Dominica or St. Vincent; between those of African decent and of South-Asian decent in Guyana and Trinidad. Data such as this will help us as a region better understand the complexities of the health of the public and to target limited resources to groups who need them most.

Posted on in Uncategorized

The public and private side of Breastfeeding

Recently, President Obama made news for asking for appropriate workplace accommodations for nursing mothers. The news was of course mixed. Breastfeeding seems to be a very political issue across the U.S., with many people saying seeing a nursing mother’s breasts amounts to too much public displays of affection to other not wanting screaming babies near them.

Of course, for working moms, their is a lot at stake to have to breastfeed a child according to the recommended guidelines here and here–exclusively for six months and continuing until the first year of life. The new U.S. recommendations are suppose to assist mothers during this process.

Both the CDC and the WHO have long been recommending breastfeeding for infants since breastmilk contains antibodies and other nutrients pertinent to early growth. In fact, the CDC has been actively trying to raise the rates of breastfeeding across the U.S. And, like many other health issues across the country, disparities exist between non-hispanic Blacks and non-hispanic Whites.

Across the U.S., Blacks are substantially less likely to breasfteed than other groups, according to the CDC. The full report is available here. Now, one of my issues with any reports like is that the Black population is often counted as a monolithic groups. Having been in the U.S. for half my life now, I’ve seen many African American parents (and I’m not saying this is exclusive to African Americans) who refuse to breastfeed their kids. I’ve always seen it as their decision and although I rarely questioned them on it, I do often wonder why one would choose not to breasfeed their child. Growing up on Dominica, it wasn’t unusually to see mothers nursing their children at Saturday Market or at the bus stop. In fact, my mother would often say that she breastfed her kids for as long as they want it. Knowing this, I am interested in data that stratifies foreign-born and U.S.-born Blacks and their breastfeeding habits.

I know that women in the Caribbean are still encouraged to breastfeed. And at times, it can seem odd to find someone who does not. So it does interest me to see what impact, if any, acculturation has on the breastfeeding habits of people of Caribbean decent living in the U.S. If anyone knows of any studies, do alert me to it.

Posted on in Uncategorized

Cheryl Burke admits being molested. What does that have to do with us?

In a new book, Cheryl Burke of Dancing with the Stars fame reveals she was molested as a child. As reported on People.com, Burke said the molestation began at age 5 by a person close to her family. She also talks about having to testify at his trial, which led to a 20-year sentence.

It seems that many more celebrities are coming out with cases of molestation or other forms of child abuse. In the past few years, we’ve heard from Monique, Raz-B from B2K, and Teri Hatcher from Housewives. Many celebrities who admit to such a devastating time in their lives mention doing so because of the platform they’ve been give. They all mention telling their storis in hope of encouraging others to do so.

Across the Eastern Caribbean, child molestation and sexual abuse is one of the most difficult topics to discuss. As a society, we know it happens. As a society, we keep saying we are doing everything to address it. Yet as a society, there is little public discourse on the topic. I posit that one of the reasons is the lack of published data on the child abuse across the region. So we are left with governments spewing numbers and rarely putting them in context.

Exhibit one is two recent articles on Dominica News Online from the Minister for Social Services, Community Development and Gender Affairs and Chief Welfare Officer. (To read them, visit here and here.) Both address child sexual abuse as one of the leading forms of abuse committed against children on the island. The Minister for Social Services attributes the increase in reporting of abuses to increased public sensitization and awareness without really discussing what the public knows.

Also, published reports sometimes do not get the media attention that other topics receive. For example, the article from the Chief Welfare Officer references a 2009 UNICEF study on child abuse in six OECS countries. The only thing the article said about that report was it’s confirmation that child abuse is an issue on Dominica.

In fact, the article is about “Perceptions of, Attitudes to, and Opinions on Child Sexual Abuse in the Eastern Caribbean” and begins by saying that “Although there is extensive international research, few empirical studies of child sexual abuse have been carried out in the Caribbean and there are no reliable data on the prevalence of child sexual abuse, or indeed on attitudes and perceptions of abuse across the region.”

I did search on previous articles from DNO to see what they’d written at the time of the report release in June 2010. Several articles appear here, here, here and here. And, as I suspected, the ‘articles’ are more in line with press releases. There is very little in-depth reporting on what the study says, what the study means, and implications for interventions towards addressing child sexual abuse in our society as well as the impact of such abuse on future health and welfare of our kids.

I’ve decided to go through the report and write another positing on it at a later date.

P.S. After writing this post, I was listening to Stardom Tent in Dominica and one of the songs addressed child molesters. This reminded me how this issue is at once pervasive in our music yet hidden in so many ways. This is not the first song dealing with child abuse and child molesters. It won’t be the last. I’ll try to get the lyrics or maybe the song and put it on here.