Haiti: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper; IMF Country Report 08/115 ...

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT POLICY
124 There are limited human resources in the health sector and they are poorly distributed throughout
national territory. Coverage by health personnel is 2.5 physicians, 1 nurse, and 2.5 health aides
for every 10,000 inhabitants, with 7 per 10,000 in Port-au-Prince and scarcely 0.2 per 10,000 in
Grande Anse. The WHO norm is 25 human resource persons per 10,000 in habitants.
PAHO/WHO estimates indicate that if the current pace of migration of Haitian health
professionals, combined with the rate of training new professionals in the country’s schools and
universities, were to be maintained at present levels, it would take 40 years of creating 740 new
jobs a year to achieve this WHO standard.
125 It is advisable to address not only the shortage of human resources, but also their uneven
distribution throughout the country. Of the 1,850 physicians who provide healthcare coverage, 90
percent are in the Ouest health department area. It is also important to redefine the type of human
resources required by the Haitian healthcare system and to remedy the lag between the needs in
the field and the training curricula of the medical, dental, and nursing schools.
Objectives
126 The human resources policy must be consistent with the objectives of the public health system
reform. This requirement mandates that this policy pursue the following objectives:
• Human resource planning
• Human resource training
• Human resource administration and management
• Human resource capacity building.
Strategic lines of action
• Adjustment of the institutional framework and HR management policies in
keeping with the needs of the sector
• Enhancement of the skills of existing personnel
• Production of human resources in response to the needs of the sector
• Equitable HR distribution in accordance with healthcare requirements
• Enhanced attractiveness of the sector.
HOSPITAL WASTE MANAGEMENT POLICY
127 Household waste and garbage in Haiti are not treated by reliable and technologically approved
systems. Indeed, there are no organized landfills at the national level. Waste collection is
generally the responsibility of the town halls, and is carried out in vastly different ways from one
municipal health unit to the next. When they are collected, household waste and garbage are
deposited in open dumps which lack supervision. Medical waste, in particular such waste
classified as “Waste from Medical Care requiring special attention” and “Infectious and highly
infectious waste” (14) represents a genuine danger to persons likely to visit the dumps. Moreover,
depositing medical waste in unsupervised areas may have a direct environmental effect through
contamination of the soil and groundwater bodies.
128 The removal of medical waste from the hospital site within 24 hours is a clearly delineated
requirement (according to accepted standards, the maximum medical waste storage time must not
exceed 24 hours) (15). Moreover, the incineration of waste as practiced by some health facilities
is carried out without any filtering system, thus raising the problem of air pollution and the
exposure to risks of disease on the part of the people living near such a pollution source.
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