Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Voices That Must Be Heard" Articles Description An account of the resource The Independent Press Association (IPA) translates articles from the ethnic press (when necessary) and distributes them via web and fax newsletter to mainstream and ethnic press, government offices, nonprofits, and interested individuals. Voices That Must be Heard was designed by the Independent Press Association staff in New York City in response to the horrifying events of September 11. After Sept. 11th, Voices focused on the South Asian, Arab and Middle Eastern communities in New York. Since February 2002, the project has expanded, selecting articles from the broad range of ethnic and community newspapers throughout the city. Here, the Archive has preserved the Voices collection from its inception until November 2002. VTMBH Article VTMBH Article: Edition 24 VTMBH Article: Article Order 1 VTMBH Article: Title NYC groups shocked by high infant mortality rate among Haitians VTMBH Article: Author Macollvie Jean-François VTMBH Article: Publication Haitian Times VTMBH Article: Original Language English VTMBH Article: Translator VTMBH Article: Section briefs VTMBH Article: Blurb VTMBH Article: Keywords VTMBH Article: Body The rate of newborns who die within the first year of life is highest in the Haitian community than among any other immigrant group in New York City, said a health organization official last week. Infant mortality is used as an indicator to determine a populations state of health development. If you use this indicator, then this community is doing worse than any other community, said Dr. Marco Mason, associate executive director of the Caribbean Womens Health Association. Mason was addressing a group of about 25 Haitians representing organizations in a roundtable discussion held at the Brooklyn Public Librarys Flatbush branch. He said the Caribbean Womens Health Association is spearheading a campaign to reduce the rate by forming a health advisory committee. Mason said he hopes to recruit committee members by September. The New York City Department of Health reported in April 2000 that the average infant mortality rate is 6.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. In the Haitian community, that rate is about 12.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. Within the top 10 nationalities above the city average are other Caribbean nations such as Panama, Grenada, and Barbados, and two African nations, Nigeria and Ghana. Yvanne Cassendo, a representative from the Alliance of Haitian Emigrates, said she was shocked about the high infant mortality rate in the Haitian community. Its something that everyone should come together to alleviate. Mason said the death of babies less than one year old cuts across social class borders among Haitians. The cause of infant death includes the mothers health during pregnancy, pre-existing medical conditions such as HIV/AIDS, lack of health insurance and poverty, he said. He said babies have a better chance of living if the mother has access to early and continuous prenatal care. Mason said some undocumented women do not seek prenatal care because they are afraid of deportation if they reveal their immigrant status. The response to infant mortality, he said, is three-pronged. The strategy involves developing an education campaign, targeting policymakers to add maternal health to the budgets and building a legal team to prepare a class-action lawsuit against the city and the department of health for the disparities. Mason would not say how much the campaign would cost, but hes trying to get other groups to help in mobilizing the community. At the meeting, Dr. Edouard Hazel, general secretary of Haitian Physicians Living Abroad, said it is important to gain control of the way public health money is spent. He said advocacy alone would not be enough. A representative from the Haitian Womens Program, Heather Anderson, said the organizations do not really go after it. Mason said he has testified to the City Council and met with politicians to convince them to include a budget line for maternal health care, but those efforts have yielded nothing. He said he sent letters to Governor George Pataki and the state Department of Health commissioner to help because the public sectors response to build state-of-the-art neonatal units is not an effective solution. Neonatal units, he said, do not prevent the fetuses from birth defects or death, but rather deals with curing the defects. Mason said it is up to the community to take organized action. VTMBH Article: Line Breaks 1 VTMBH Article: Date 2002-06-25 VTMBH Article: Thumb VTMBH Article: Article File VTMBH Article: Hit Count 468 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource NYC groups shocked by high infant mortality rate among Haitians 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. article Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-06-25