Women Key to Haitian Rebuilding

Voters in Haiti go to the polls on Sunday, March 20, 2011 to elect a new president and a new Parliament. Those elected will face daunting challenges as Haiti rebuilds itself: quake-related devastation, systemic poverty, ongoing crises in the delivery of basic services such as health care and education, and violence. According to the International Organization for Migration, 3 million Haitians -- nearly one third of the population -- were affected by the quake; an estimated 1.3 million were displaced and 800,000 remain in camps. The UN estimates that 300,000 people lost their lives and that the majority of those were women. Before the quake, over 70 percent of Haitians lived on less than $2 per day. And then there is the cholera outbreak, which has affected thousands of Haitians.

Read more...