Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; Project Medishare for Haiti, Thomonde, Haiti.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Nov;83(5):1098-9. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.10-0216.
Restaveks, or indentured foster children, are a poorly understood, vulnerable subclass of Haitian society. From 2001 to the present, a partnership between multiple US academic medical centers and Project Medishare for Haiti has held an ongoing series of mobile clinics in rural Haiti. Multiple cases of restavek-related illness were identified. At a recent pair of mobile clinics, the authors identified two restavek cases that were significantly worse off than their communal peer groups and required immediate care. Given the lack of a robust legal support to protect orphaned children in Haiti, clinicians have an important role in advocating for restaveks at the bedside. The plight of Haiti's restaveks is widely reported in the human rights literature but is not publicly recognized as an issue for community health and wellbeing among physicians. To address these health disparities, the health consequences of an entire class of neglected children must be further explored.
被奴役的儿童，或契约寄养儿童，是海地社会中一个人们知之甚少且脆弱的亚群。从 2001 年至今，多个美国学术医疗中心与海地的“医疗救助计划”之间的合作，一直在海地农村地区开展一系列巡回诊所。发现了多起与被奴役儿童有关的疾病病例。在最近的两次巡回诊所中，作者发现了两例被奴役儿童的情况，他们比他们的集体同龄人更糟糕，需要立即得到照顾。鉴于海地缺乏强有力的法律支持来保护孤儿，临床医生在床边为被奴役儿童辩护方面发挥着重要作用。海地被奴役儿童的困境在人权文献中被广泛报道，但在医生中，他们并没有被公认为是社区健康和福祉的一个问题。为了解决这些健康差距，必须进一步探讨一整类被忽视儿童的健康后果。
