Haiti on the Ground: an Interview with Dr. Ronald Waldman, USAID
February 27, 2010
Katherine Bliss, Senior Fellow with the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, interviews Dr. Ronald Waldman upon his recent return from Haiti as Coordinator of the United States Medical and Emergency Response team. He discusses the short-term and long-term health challenges Haiti faces as it works to rebuild in the months to come.
Excerpt: "We like to say that things should get back to normal as quickly as possible. That’s part of the alleviation of the stress, the psychological stress that’s put on people. What does getting back to normal mean? It means having children go back to school as quickly as possible, but there are no schools. It means people are able to have spiritual outlets in which they can grieve, but there are no churches; they’ve been destroyed by the earthquake. Clinics, not there; banks, not there. So, this is really the kind of tragedy that will take years and years to overcome."
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Source: United Nations Development Programme (Creative Commons 2.0)
